Sleeping Light
by SRSK
Summary: Sequel to Royal Darkness. Riku and Saiyoku's travels during what takes place in 358/2 Days.
1. The Journey Continues

**Sleeping Light**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Kingdom Hearts Saga… except for you! –points at Saiyoku-**

Saiyoku awoke and sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She gave a quick stretch of her arms; her shoulders were killing her from sleeping on the ground several nights in a row.

"That's it; I'm giving Riku heck for this." She stood up and brushed the dirt off her black Organization coat, "Which reminds me. Where is he?" She looked around, not seeing him anywhere. The were in Hollow Bastion, deciding to camp out there for the time being. Riku had refused to let anyone see them, feeling that it was "best". Yeah, right.

"Riku? Hey! Riku! Where'd you go?" She looked around and stepped out of the Crystal Fissure, where they had stayed. The Great Maw was empty, the huge expanse free of Heartless as well as people.

"Dang it, where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go?"

Saiyoku jumped and spun on her feet.

"Jeez Riku, don't scare me like that. Where were you?"

He chuckled a bit before handing her a bag. She took it from him and held it up.

"What's this?"

"Breakfast. Eat up."

"I would, but where's yours?"

"Already ate." He walked back out where he came and waved behind him.

"You ate already? Hey, wait! Where're you going?"

"Back into town. Need to check up on something…"

He walked out, pulled up his hood, and disappeared into the Dark Portals that they had just recently been able to use. Saiyoku sighed and peered inside the bag.

Riku stepped out into the sun, standing on top of the roofs of the houses just outside the Marketplace. They were restoring Hollow Bastion to what it had once been; they called themselves the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, that is, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and Merlin. All of them and a bunch of other inhabitants were working on the Castle mainly, but were also in the middle of hopefully improving the town's defense.

Cranes covered the entire castle… something he remembered well. It seemed strange to him that this was what the world really was: a former beautiful town where so many people had lived.

He sighed and gripped his chest over his heart.

"How much more can I stand… before Ansem really does get stronger?" He muttered solemnly.

"Keeping things from me again, huh?"

Saiyoku stepped through her own Dark Portal and folded her arms, scowling. Riku glanced behind him and quickly looked away when he saw her angry face.

"It's nothing."

"Don't you DARE try and act tough. If there's something bothering you, then tell me, tell ANYONE. You shouldn't do this on your own, especially if it has to do with Ansem." She stood next to him, facing the castle ahead also. Her face lightened a bit as she tossed him the same bag he had given her. He caught it and frowned.

"I told you to eat it."

"'Breakfast. Eat up.'"

"You're kidding me." He was just about to shove the bag back in her arms when his stomach growled. He grimaced and tried to silence it, which only made it growl again. Saiyoku burst into laughter until her stomach growled.

"Okay, so we're both hungry. You just stick with that one; I'll go get another."

"I'd let you, but have you checked our munny pouch lately?" He grabbed her when she opened a Dark Portal.

"I thought we had like, two thousand."

"Try three hundred. Hi-potions are expensive though disgusting."

"Seriously? Looks like I have to go job hunting again in Twilight Town. We'll just share the breakfast for now, I guess."

"Fine…" Riku sat down and opened the bag, Saiyoku joining him. While they ate, Saiyoku tried to get him to tell her what was wrong again.

"So, how come you've wanted to be by yourself so much lately?" She said before taking another bite out of her sandwich, one of the only things they could afford at the moment.

"…" Riku simply stuffed his face with more of his sandwich to avoid the question.

"…Fine, you can either tell me right now, or I'll force it out of you. Which would you rather go with?"

"…" He stayed silent again.

"That's it. Do you want me to take that off?" She warned him, pointing to the black blindfold that he wore. It was of special material that she had helped him with that would allow him to still see normally, but without the Darkness clouding up his heart. He froze and set his sandwich down.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, yes I would. I know perfectly well what would happen if you took that off and I'm not afraid to hold it against you. Tell me, or I'll take it off."

"But…"

"Riku…" She growled, just as frustrated as he was.

"Why is it that you always win?" He asked when he stood up again, looking out at the under-construction castle.

"'Cause I have ways."

"I'm beginning to think it's because I let you."

"Either way works for me."

He sighed, "Ansem… I fell like he's growing stronger… He's still dormant inside my heart, but… His presence just seems to have grown more noticeable."

"You scared?"

"No." He replied quickly.

"Heh, I knew you'd say that. Doesn't matter. Is there anything I can do?" She looked at the blindfold, "Do I need to strengthen the bind?"

"No… I don't think it's that. I just don't even know what I should do."

"Do you regret not letting Naminè lock up your heart? Just think; you could've been there for eternity without a care in the world, where nothing could've hurt you, and Ansem would never be a problem."

He stared up at the sky, quiet for a time before turning to her, the rest of his face showing his expression, "Sometimes, maybe. But… even though Ansem is a problem now, I'd be an even bigger coward if I had agreed."

"Bravery is certainly something big with most guys," Saiyoku sighed with a smile and got to her feet, grabbing his hand, "C'mon. Let's head to Twilight Town. We can stay there until I gain some more money, and then if you feel like it, we could go and visit Sora. Maybe DiZ has something for us to do. Besides, both of us have grown this past several months immensely and have grown out of our old island clothes. While we're there, we can get new ones."

Riku groaned.

"Oh, get over it. You'll be much happier when you actually FIT in your clothes again." She opened another portal and pulled him through, leaving Hollow Bastion behind.

"Why is it that you have to be a girl?"

"'Cause I figure you don't want to be gay." She laughed and pulled him through Betwixt and Between.

"REALLY not funny, Saiyoku."


	2. Problems of Job Hunting with Pseudonyms

**For those of you who don't know, both Kamei and Kemyou mean "alias" or "pseudonym" in Japanese.**

"Hi there! I hear you're hiring right now, and I'm just looking for some odd jobs, so, would you hire me to deliver your mail?" Saiyoku, now out of her Organization outfit and in her normal, but very short clothes, asked the lady at the post office, who just smiled.

"Well, look who it is! One of my best deliverers. It's been a while, Kamei. Skateboard or running, which will it be today?"

"I'll be running today, ma'am."

"Alright, I'll be just a second."

The lady went into the back of her post office, while Saiyoku leaned against the wall. Riku so owed her for this. He was so determined to not let anyone that could have or would be associated with Sora that he made her do all of the outside work on the front lines. He just had better be glad that even if he WAS seen, he could tell them that his name was Kemyou thanks to Saiyoku's idea of a pseudonym. It may have been completely unoriginal, but hey, no one had to know that.

The lady came out from the back of the post office lugging a heavy bag of mail up onto the counter.

"We've gotten a lot of mail recently, so you came at a good time to find a job. If you do it in record time, I'll add two hundred munny to your pay. After all, that's a huge amount of mail."

"Thanks! Now, what is the record I'm trying to beat?"

"For this amount of mail, the record is thirty two point five minutes. Think you can handle it?"

"Whew, that's a pretty short amount of time… but no worries. I'll be back in no time!"

"Good luck, Kamei!"

Saiyoku slung the heavy mail bag over her shoulder and pulled out the first stack of letters. She went all over the place, delivering letter after letter to people all over Twilight Town. She neared the last few letters in the bottom of the bag and realized she had two minutes left. _Great… Only two minutes and fourteen more letters. Argh, I could use the two hundred extra munny…_

She pulled out another stack and noticed that they all belonged to the same person. _Jeez, popular guy._ But then she also noticed that where they were to be delivered was on the other side of town, the farthest place away from the post office. _Aw, man!_

She booked it there and back, hoping and praying that she would make it. She reached the post office and collapsed on the ground in front of it.

"I'm done! Did I beat the record?"

The lady came out holding her stopwatch, a disappointed look on her face.

"Aw…" Saiyoku moaned, frustrated. But then a smile broke out over the lady's face.

"You were so close… to losing. Congrats. You beat the record by 2 milliseconds."

"You serious!?"

"Sure am. The two hundred bonus is all yours."

"Alright!"

The lady handed her the bag full of her pay, including the two hundred extra munny. Saiyoku thanked her again before running off to the job hunting board, stuffing the munny bag inside her pocket. She quickly picked another job that seemed easy enough.

"Hey there, I hear you're hiring? I'm just looking for a few odd jobs." Saiyoku asked a young girl, the owner of the Grandstander entertainment. The girl looked her over and sighed.

"You'll do. The rules are simple. You'll get five tries to keep the ball up in the air for as long as you can without letting it touch the ground. The longer you keep it in the air, the happier the audience will be, the more pay you'll receive. Got it?" She tossed Saiyoku the ball.

"How do I keep the ball up in the air?"

"You hit it with a weapon. You can use a Struggle bat if you need to, but you can use whatever you want." She pointed to an array of Struggle weapons that they used in the tournaments.

"Can I use this?" Saiyoku summoned her Keyblade and held it up for the little girl to see. She was unimpressed.

"Sure, whatever you want." The girl picked up a megaphone and hopped up onto the ledge that lined the hill, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Grandstander is back on! Featuring…" She looked down at Saiyoku. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Kamei."

"Featuring Kamei! And her…" She looked down at her again, "What's your weapon?"

"A Keyblade."

"A Keyblade? THAT'S your weapon? Alright, suit yourself. Kamei and her marvelous Keyblade will be performing Grandstander for all people! Come and enjoy!"

"Wait… I don't even get a practice round?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" She smiled evilly and shouted into the megaphone again, "First try! Begin!"

A group of people came to watch Saiyoku try and keep the ball in the air. She tossed it up once and hit it once when it came down. It was harder than she expected. The ball was light and bouncy, and sure went up high, but it was hard to keep an eye on it and follow it everywhere as well as keep it inside the ring of people. One of the little boys watching tripped her, causing the ball to float back onto the ground.

"Ooh, ouch. Okay, second try! Begin!"

The little boy laughed when Saiyoku glared at him and picked up the ball. Luckily for her, the mother found him and took him away, an angry yet worried look pasted on her face. Saiyoku tossed up the ball and swung a few times, keeping it aloft.

_Four… ten… fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four… thirty one, thirty two, thirty three… forty five, forty six, forty seven, forty eight, forty nine, fifty! Fifty one… sixty two…_

She kept the count in her head, making sure she kept the ball up for at least one hundred hits. When she hit one hundred, the crowd cheered loudly, excited and entertained. But it didn't last much longer. Her arm grew tired of the same repeated motions and staying in the air. It dropped after one hundred twenty-six hits. She continued again, but she only got twenty. Her fourth time only got seventeen, while her fifth try only got ten.

The little girl in charge of the Grandstander entertainment looked out at the crowd.

"How much?" She asked them, and they all shouted, "One hundred!"

"Oh, alright. I guess you earned it…" The girl pulled out a bag of munny and handed it to Saiyoku.

"Thanks."

"To bad you didn't beat the record. I'd have given you four hundred munny had you done it."

"Four hundred munny!? What was the record!?"

"Three hundred seventy-two hits. You get a hundred munny per hundred hits. If you get below one hundred on your greatest amount, then the pay gets lower."

"Jeez, three hundred seventy-two… Must have had a lot of arm strength and stamina. I wonder who it was…"

"That would be me."

"Huh?" Saiyoku turned around to see a guy with spiked up blond hair, red eyes, a gray vest, a black sleeveless shirt, camo pants and shoes to match. Behind him was a boy with brown hair that was spilling over a sweatband across his forehead, but spiked up, kind brown eyes, a red and white shirt, baggy jeans, and white and blue sneakers. A girl was there too, with long brown wavy hair pulled to each side in loose pigtails, green eyes, an orange sleeveless shirt with white island flowers, yellowish-tan capris, and orange and white shoes.

"You set the record? That's cool."

"You sound surprised. Don't think I could do it?" He folded his arms across his chest.

"No, no. It's just it's rare when I can find records that I can't beat. I already beat the record for fastest delivery, and the one for the Struggle posters."

Before the guy could respond, his friend tilted his head, "Um… I haven't seen you around before. You new here?"

Saiyoku smiled, "Yeah, but I don't think I'll be staying here for an extended period of time."

"What's your name?" The girl asked.

"Sai—er, Kamei."

"My name's Pence." The boy with the brown hair told her, grinning.

"I'm Olette." The girl said.

"Hayner." The blonde boy said reluctantly.

"Hey! Sa—er, Kamei!" Riku's voice called out from behind her. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"What's up?" She asked, turning her back to the other three.

Riku frowned and narrowed his eyes, not that Saiyoku could see his eyes anyway, "Who're they?"

"Just met them. Ri—er, Kemyou, this is Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Hayner actually set a record I can't beat. Guys, this is Kemyou."

"Your pride is getting to you again Kamei. How much munny did you get?"

"Um…" She pulled out the munny bags she had earned and counted, "Eight hundred fifty munny, which added to the three hundred makes one thousand one hundred fifty munny."

"Still not enough."

"That's not enough?" Olette broke in, "What are you guys doing that you need more than a thousand for the both of you?"

"Shopping for new clothes." Saiyoku tugged at her tan cargo jacket, "These are WAY too small now. It's been a while since we've been able to go get some new ones, so we need to do it now while we have the chance."

"I see." Olette looked at both of their clothes and smiled. "Well, there's a clothing store down in the Marketplace where the tram is. It's that way." She pointed farther down the hill and under a huge archway in the town's wall.

Riku grabbed Saiyoku by the jacket and pulled her close, "We are NOT shopping for new clothes."

"Get over it already."

"You do realize how much more munny you're going to have to earn?"

"We'll just sell our old clothes. Easy way to make munny." Saiyoku whacked at his hand for him to let go. "Just head off now, I'll meet you down there. I wanna ask these guys something."

He sighed and continued to walk down the hill toward the Marketplace. Saiyoku groaned and turned back to the others, muttering, "What am I gonna do with him?"

"What's with the blindfold?" Hayner asked her.

"Huh?"

"The blindfold that he was wearing." He motioned across his eyes to represent it.

"Oh, you mean that. Well, it's a long story, and I'm sure it'll bore you anyway."

"Give me a break. We have all summer long to hang out. You can tell us the story." He hopped up onto the ledge casually.

"Well… Look, it's not that I don't want to tell you guys, it's just that he'll kill me if I tell you guys really anything about us. He's just being precautious. Ever since we got separated from our home, he's been like that."

"You were separated from your home?"

Saiyoku quickly held her hand over her mouth, "Oops."

"C'mon, tell us. You guys don't look like you're from around here, so impress us with a really cool story about yourselves."

"Please?"

"Yeah, please?"

Saiyoku shook her head, "Riku'll kill me if I tell you… oh no." She smacked herself in the forehead.

"Riku? Who's Riku?"

"N-no one. He's a friend. Listen, I really ought to go. Oh, wait… Hayner, Pence, and Olette, right? Where's the nearest hotel? We seriously have got to find a better place to stay."

"Sure, it's easy to get to the hotel. If you go up to the top of the train station and go through one of the tunnels that's right next to it, then just go to the tunnel that opens up into a big platform. There's another tunnel that leads right out into the other side of town. This way's much easier than buying a train ticket. The hotel's right before you reach Sunset Hill." Olette pointed farther up the hill, "The station's up there."

"Awesome, thanks. Okay, well, Kemyou will be looking for me if I don't hurry… or he'll just run away so he doesn't have to get new clothes. Either way, I have to get going. Thanks for all your guys' help!" She turned and ran down the hill before any of them could ask any more questions. She found Riku wandering around the candy shop in plain view, easy for her to find him. The clothing store was right across the street.

"Let's go, KEMYOU." She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the store.

"…But I don't want to go."

"You're coming anyway you big baby."


	3. The Usual Spot

"Alright Kemyou, I'm finished." Saiyoku appeared beside Riku, who was sitting bored on a bench outside the store.

He looked up at her, "Where's your clothes?"

"I asked the guy at the counter to hold them while you got yours. That way, just in case there were any Nobodies or Heartless around, I could take care of them for you."

"Or, we could just leave now and take care of them together if they ever show up."

She laughed, "Nice try. Now, get in there."

Riku groaned as she pulled him to his feet and dragged him into the store. Saiyoku leaned against one of the walls and shooed him off, threatening to pick something out for him if he didn't get moving.

After several minutes, he came wandering back, a bored expression on his face, which wasn't surprising."There's nothing here."

"Are you serious? This is the only clothing store for this ENTIRE world where there are guys living here and you say that there isn't anything for you?" She sighed and stood up straight, "Come with me."

She led the way and picked up a few things along the way, barely even taking much of a pause. He followed her around like a little puppy, not really caring what was going on and longing to get outside. Saiyoku eventually led him to the changing rooms and shoved in his arms the pile of clothes she had before pushing him into one of the rooms.

"Oh, one thing. Black one goes underneath, not the white and yellow one."

"What?"

"Just do as I say and this will all be over soon enough." She ran back through the store one more time while he changed. When she came back, he was leaning against the door, a look of annoyance plastered on his face.

He was wearing steel gray baggy pants, a black zip up sleeveless vest that was underneath a white and yellow and black one that was just a little shorter than the other. A white arm warmer hung loosely above his left hand.

A flustered look flashed on her face, "What, you don't like it?"

"No… I'm just upset that you seem to be able to do everything."

"…?" She raised an eyebrow, confused.

"I like it. There, happy now?"

"Hmph. Here, put these on." She handed him a pair of white, yellow, black, and gray shoes. He slid them on while a grin stretched across her face.

"Excellent. See? That wasn't so bad!"

"Alright, alright. You win… again."

"Okay, now go change out of them 'cause we have to pay."

He walked back in and in a few moments he was back in his old clothes. She took the new ones and paid for them.

"The guy said that we can change into them here if we want. Might as well." She took her clothes and went into a separate dressing room. When she came back out, he was already dressed.

"Hm, I like it." He told her when she came out.

She wore a black vest almost like his underneath a red short sleeve zip up jacket that was held together by two silver straps that crisscrossed in a single "x". There were several belts hanging from her waist above her black, silver, and red knee-length shorts that were wrapped around with two more belts per leg. Her black boots reached to about halfway up her calves.

"Thank you."

"Really makes you notice that your hair definitely got longer."

"Oh, and yours didn't?" She gave a friendly tug on a strand of his long, spiky, silver hair while she rolled her eyes.

"Let's get out of here," was his only response. They left the store quickly. _It feels nice to be in new clothes instead of those dirty old ones. My shorts were WAY too short._ Saiyoku trailed behind Riku and gazed at all the different shops. She suddenly remembered that there was a weapons dealer up the hill and an accessory shop right across from it.

"Hey, I'll be right back, okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"Just up the hill. I'll be back." She ran off and reached the weapons dealer.

"Sorry ma'am, I think you came to the wrong shop." The owner said, and Saiyoku scowled.

"This is the weapon shop, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I came to the right place. I just want to look." She peered farther over the counter. The man frowned and sighed.

"Okay, but I don't think you'll find anythi—"

"What's your selection on longswords?"

"What?"

"Longswords. What do you have?"

"Well, let's see…" He went into the back and she could hear boxes being moved.

"Well, your back already."

"Huh?" Saiyoku turned around and saw Hayner and the gang again. She smiled, "Hey.

"What'cha doing?" Pence asked.

"Just checkin out some longswords. It's been forever since I've held one. They're a lot heavier than my weapon."

"And that would be…?" Hayner cocked his head and folded his arms across his chest.

"This." She held out her hand and immediately her Keyblade formed from a burst of light and dark. Hayner seemed unimpressed.

"What's THAT?"

"It's called a Keyblade."

"Sure looks like a weird weapon to me."

"Kemyou has one too. Surprisingly, they're more common than usual. There's only supposed to be one master, but… there're actually seven of us, if you count the enemy." Saiyoku said nonchalantly.

"Really…" Hayner retorted sarcastically, "And this enemy would be…?"

"Here ya go. I only have a few, since no one uses them any more ever since the Struggle Tournament came, but I kept some." The man behind the counter set down a long heavy box on the counter, a thin layering of dust resting on top.

"Thank you." Saiyoku glanced behind her before narrowing her eyes at Hayner, "You're just trying to get me to tell you more about us, aren't you?"

Pence and Olette smiled sheepishly, while Hayner scowled, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Right…" Saiyoku shook her head and turned to the box of longswords. She picked one up that was light and easy, if a bit rusty. She swung it around a few times before returning it to the box, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sorry, sir. I don't think you have anything I'm looking for."

"Suit yourself."

She walked past the three friends and across to the Accessory Shop.

"Hi there, how may I help you?"

"Can I see your inventory on anklets?"

"Of course."

The lady ducked behind the counter. Saiyoku turned to lean against it to find Hayner and the others still there.

"What?" Saiyoku asked, exasperated.

"The more you don't tell us, the more we want to know. Now, spill it."

"No thanks. I prefer to live rather than being torn apart by Kemyou."

"He's not going to find out."

"Just leave us both alone, okay!" She yelled at them, her temper reaching its limit, "You don't know anything and you don't need to know!"

"Alright, fine. C'mon guys." Hayner turned and left down the hill, Pence and Olette looking between Hayner and their new friend.

"Sorry about him…" Pence told her before running off after him.

"Please forgive him. Hayner's just Hayner. It's what he does. Bye." Olette looked apologetically at Saiyoku before chasing after her other two friends.

"Here you are… ma'am." The lady set down a tray with their selection of anklets. Saiyoku chose the Dark Anklet and paid the lady, quickly leaving so she could let out some of her steam. She wrapped it around her ankle over her boot and wandered back into the Marketplace. Riku was nowhere to be seen.

"Dang it, where'd he go?" She looked around the line of shops and still didn't see him, "Where the heck did he go?"

"Looking for someone?" Riku asked behind her, startling her. She spun around, a scowl on her face.

"Do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Never mind…" She gripped her forehead and sighed.

"Something happen?"

"No, no, it's fine." She looked up and gave a faint smile, "So, what's on the agenda for now?"

"I don't know…" He said. He always looked troubled or had the air of depression around him now. Saiyoku just didn't understand why, but she always tried to cheer him up.

"Then… why don't we find something to do?"

"First, here." He handed her a blue ice cream Popsicle, "I figured you were still hungry."

"Ice cream!" She accepted it happily and practically glomped the whole thing, "Tha—mph—yo—mph," She thanked him with the ice cream still stuffed in her mouth, "Mmm, I love sea-salt ice cream."

"I know you do."

She continued to eat the ice cream when she slowly pulled it out of her mouth, scowling.

"Something wrong with the ice cream?"

"No. Why don't you have one?"

"I don't want one."

"You don't know what you want anymore. Be right back." She groaned as she was enveloped by a Dark portal and appeared quickly in front of the ice cream shop. She approached the lady at the counter.

"One ice cream please!"

"Certainly." The lady ducked behind the counter and pulled out a fresh new sea-salt ice cream bar. She handed Saiyoku the treat after she paid and the now satisfied girl disappeared through another Dark portal, reappearing right in front of Riku.

She stuck her own Popsicle in her mouth and handed him his saying, "Here," through her teeth.

"I told you I don't want one."

"I went and bought you this. You're going to eat the Popsicle." She glared at him ready to poke him in the face with the frozen treat if she had to.

"And that was your own fault for buying something I already told you I didn't want."

"You want the Popsicle. You know you do." She waved it in front of his face.

"I DON'T want the Popsicle."

"C'mon, it's GOOD." She held it up closer.

"No."

"You know you want it. What happened to the Riku from the island? You used to love ice cream!"

"He was left behind on the islands."

She groaned with exasperation and went ahead and shoved it in his mouth.

"You'll thank me for this later."

Riku was silent from the frozen treat inside his mouth.

"If this is some kind of emo phase you're going through, I don't like it. C'mon, let's go." She grabbed his hand and they disappeared through their Dark way of traveling. Saiyoku dragged him along through Betwixt and Between again and opened up another portal. They were the island they used to play on before the islands were destroyed.

The Popsicle nearly fell out of Riku's mouth, "W-what are we doing here?"

"Kairi doesn't come here any more. I noticed a while ago. She was muttering something about not coming back until all of us were reunited again back home."

"Yeah, but… what about Wakka? And Tidus? What about them? If they see us, then they'll tell Kairi."

"Wakka? Tidus? If you haven't noticed, no one but us is on the island. Unlike us, it's a school day for them. They're on the Mainland. Destiny Islands' summer vacation starts a little later than that of Twilight Town's. Besides, it's hard to tell what time it is in Twilight Town, since it's always sunset there."

"But…"

"Admit it; you're glad you're home."

"I would, but… it's just not right with all of us here."

"I know…" Saiyoku walked up the stairs and up the ramp to go across the old wooden bridge that connected them to the small islet just off the coast. The Paopu tree still looked healthy, and Saiyoku hopped up to her normal place on the tree.

"C'mon!" She yelled down to Riku, who looked around the island sadly before joining her.


	4. The Nightmare Begins

"Riku… Riku!" The deep, dark voice crept into his head, sending a cold chill through his body.

"No…" He gripped his skull in pain.

"Yes… I've come back… I can see your heart. It SHALL be MINE!" Ansem appeared before him, reaching for him.

Riku tried to back away, unable to move. Ansem reached into his heart and sent his Darkness inside, filling his heart to the brim. Riku screamed in pain and felt himself change into Ansem, morphing into the all too familiar form.

"NO!" Riku battled against the Dark entity inside him, struggling to gain control. Hours passed, not a single one had given, when a small light appeared to Riku.

"Your Majesty? Please tell me it's you again!" Riku shouted, desperate for help. The little light flickered, as if it was about to extinguish, but then grew larger and enveloped them both. Someone's hand reached out and pulled Riku farther into the light, away from Ansem. He could feel the power erupt within him, and he pushed Ansem farther back, gaining control. The light faded, and Riku could still see Ansem much farther away, but his power was still inside, making Riku's appearance the same as his possessor.

Time seemed to alter, and suddenly, the new Riku/Ansem was in a computer room, which seemed oddly familiar. He realized that it was the same computer room from the memory Twilight Town on the Card in Castle Oblivion. He looked around through his hood and saw Saiyoku sitting against the wall, bored. She looked up and smiled.

"Hey there! 'Bout time you got back. Where's –?" Her voice fizzed out, like he was supposed to know what name she was trying to say. She stood up, a concerned look on her face.

"What's with the hood? You never wear it unless we're on a recon mission. C'mon, take it off already." She reached for it to slide it off his head. _What will she think when she sees me as Ansem? Will she believe that I'm still me?_

He backed away and tried to avoid her and get out of the room, but she blocked him from leaving, a scowl on her face.

"What's the matter? Are you hiding something from me?" She tried to see past the shadow of the hood. The shadow faltered as one of the lights in the room flickered, causing Saiyoku to gasp. She backed into the doorway.

"No… Riku… You're not Riku anymore… I can't believe it. He finally gained control…" She was shaking her head in disbelief.

Riku reached out to her, "No, Saiyoku, it's really me! I promise. I'm still Riku!" His voice was no longer his own, but the deep tone of voice that Ansem had.

Saiyoku only shook her head harder, "You're lying!" She shouted at him, shutting her eyes hard, not wanting to look at him.

"No! Please, Saiyoku! I promise it's really me! I promise!"

The room melted away, Saiyoku's figure fading into Ansem, who just laughed.

"What will you do when this happens? She'll never believe you. She's seen my power and knows what will happen to anyone who gives in to the Darkness." He grinned smugly.

Riku clenched his head in his hands, "No! No! She has to believe me! I haven't given in just yet… I'm still here! Saiyoku!"

He sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily; his clothes were plastered to his skin from sweat. He muttered to himself, "Just a dream. Only a dream…"

Riku heard the door open, "Riku? You okay?"

Saiyoku entered the room, her figure only a silhouette from the pale light coming from the windows: a fake night created by the hotel they were staying in due to the fact that it was ALWAYS sundown there.

He gave a curt reply, "Yeah. I'm fine. Go back to bed," before collapsing back on the bed, his hand on his forehead.

"I don't believe you." She muttered as she stood by his bedside.

"You don't have to. Just go to bed. It must be like, what? Two in the morning?"

"Three actually, but I can wait. Just tell me what the problem is."

"Nothing. Just a bad dream."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." She sat on the edge of the bed, making Riku feel slightly nervous.

"I promise, I'm fine." He rolled over to ignore her. She sighed and got up, "Fine. You're so stubborn… Put on your blindfold if you need to. It can't hurt," she left the room, closing the door behind her. Riku stared at the window for the longest time before grabbing the blindfold, securing it in place, pulling the covers over his head, and groaning from exhaustion and annoyance.

--

Riku sat up in bed, gripping his forehead and yawning. The fake night had disappeared and the sunset light easily crept into the room. He got up, tightened his blindfold, and pulled on his normal clothes, the organization outfit on over it. He was in the middle of pulling on the gloves when he walked into the main room in the hotel room they were staying in for the moment. Saiyoku was lounging on the couch, already in her organization clothes, taking a nap, her hands behind her head.

"Wake up, Saiyoku."

"Hm? Wha—?" She started, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"C'mon, we need to go eat something."

"Eat?" She asked, her voice slurred from sleep.

"Yes, eat. Y'know, food and stuff."

"Okay, okay, I'm not stupid, I'm just tired."

"You sure?"

"Shut up."

"Wow, great come back. You know, you wouldn't be having this problem if you had gone to bed when I told you to."

"Nah, just woke up to early."

"Ahuh… well, come on. Let's go. We have a lot on the agenda today."

"Like?"

"We're going to find DiZ today. Time to check up on Sora. Maybe they've got his memory fixed."

"Who knows? We'll soon find out." She got up stretched, and walked past him to the door, "You coming?"

"Yeah." He nodded and followed her out the door, sliding past her and leading the way down the stairs. They walked out into the sunset laden town and headed for the nearest food vendor. After eating something small, since their munny pouch was running low again, they went through the Underground Concourse and back down into the Marketplace. They pulled their hoods up over their heads and clambered through the huge crack in the wall on the other side of the Marketplace. After going through the woods they came upon the same mansion Riku had seen before. Saiyoku was awestruck.

"Whoah, now this is some house."

"You've seen the castle at Hollow Bastion."

"Yeah, but this isn't as creepy, and that castle never really stood out as a house to me." She opened the rod iron gate and peered around at the old, crumbling archway. Riku walked past her towards the door.

She kept staring at the huge windows and the forgotten archway until she accidentally hit her knee against one of the huge pieces of rock.

"OW!"

Riku spun around to see her holding her leg, but she was laughing.

"Heh, guess I didn't notice it."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She put her leg back on the ground and stood up straight, taking off her hood, revealing a huge smile on her face. "See?"

Riku shook his head, pulled off his hood, and opened the door. Everything was as he remembered it. Saiyoku followed him and tried to open one of the doors to another room when Riku grabbed her by the hood, "C'mon, don't get sidetracked."

"B-but…"

"No."

She groaned but joined him again reluctantly, wanting to know what was behind the door. He led the way up the stairs and through the room on the right. They were in a huge library, with a wooden table in the middle. There was a yellow crayon drawing on it, like some little kid had decided to color on something other than paper.

Riku looked around, "Hrm… I thought this was how I got in last time…"

Saiyoku took a closer look at the drawing and saw that it was really an emblem, and that it was unfinished, "Hey, Riku, come take a look at this. What do you think it is?"

He looked over her shoulder, "Some sort of design…"

"Maybe if we finish it, it'll do something."

"Can't hurt to try."

"Well, what do you think it would be?" She looked at the other two designs and realized that one of them was the Heartless emblem. The other one she didn't know, but she had a feeling it was connected with the Darkness.

"Maybe there's some clue somewhere in the mansion."

Saiyoku ran out of the room and headed across the hallway to the room on the left; it was the first room she could reach. She was blinded immediately by the white walls, floor, ceiling, and furniture. Even the flowers on the table were white, along with the curtains. There were drawings posted all over the room on the wall. Saiyoku took a closer look at them. The first one she looked at was of a library with tall pillars of marble. _Isn't that… Oh! That's the library at Hollow Bastion!_

She went around and looked at all the others. There were drawings of more rooms in Hollow Bastion Castle, the Secret Place from the islands, Sora and another blonde guy from the Organization, the same blonde guy running away from something, the Keyhole in Hollow Bastion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the island they always played at, the blonde guy, a red head, and two other organization members, Kairi with a Paopu fruit, the room from Traverse Town, the mainland of Destiny Islands, and the entry hall of Hollow Bastion Castle.

She also noticed that there were some on the floors that consisted of Riku next to an egg-like pod, the red head next to some golden stairs that strangely resembled Twilight Town's Underground Concourse, Sora, a girl with blonde hair, and Riku in his Dark form, and lastly, Sora facing the blond girl and Riku. The only other drawing was of all four of them on the Paopu tree, and that was on the table.

"What… is all this? These are drawings of everything that's happened… and even some stuff that I don't know of, like… who's the red head, the blonde kid, and the girl?" There was a drawing pad on the table, along with some crayons. Saiyoku picked it up and lifted the pages. There was a drawing of Sora asleep, as well as a golden insignia…

"Huh? Oh, this is the same design! Riku!" She called out the door, and she soon heard the thud of his footsteps up the stairs. He found her and looked concerned, "What is it?"

"I think I found our cryptic friend's code." She handed him the drawing pad and grabbed a yellow crayon of the table. "Shall we?"

She walked out of the room, grabbing the drawing pad from Riku's hands. She went right to the small little table with the lone candelabra. She opened the page to the insignia and began to draw as close to the picture as she could. Immediately, the table began to glow and then the whole floor, save for the edge nearer to the door. The floor shone with a bright light and disappeared, the table going with it. Saiyoku fell right through and landed hard on the metal floor. Riku came running into the room and saw Saiyoku laying there in a daze.

"What'd you do to yourself this time?" Riku asked with a laugh, and Saiyoku just glared up at him.

"It's another stupid house of pranks like the Castle!"

Riku jumped down into the pit instead of taking the stairs and helped her up. They entered the only room they could, since the other one was blocked by fallen pipes and debris. It was a computer room, with several screens producing a monstrous amount of data all over the place. Riku looked around.

"Hello? DiZ? Naminè?" He called out, but there wasn't anybody at the computer or anywhere else.

"Maybe they're in there." Saiyoku pointed to another sliding metal doorway, and he shrugged his shoulders. They entered, but it was only another huge empty room, but another door lead somewhere else. They continued on and ended up in a long hallway with smaller, thinner pods. They passed by, but Saiyoku stopped at two of them down the hallway.

"Isn't that…" She focused on the two heads that were clearly visible through the pod. Inside the one on the left was Donald, and in the other was Goofy.

"Yeah," Riku nodded, "Donald and Goofy. Sora's companions."

"Don't tell me you're still jealous."

"Hmph." Riku just turned around opened the door to the Pod Room, where Sora was sleeping. Saiyoku followed him in, and sure enough, DiZ and Naminè were conversing with each other in front of Sora's pod. They both turned around when they heard the door close behind Saiyoku.

"Well, well. Look who decided to return."

"I see Sora's memories haven't returned yet." Riku said coldly. Saiyoku just sighed and tugged on his sleeve, "Don't give them a hard time."

"Saiyoku. I see you decided to stick with Riku."

"I intend to. You must be Naminè… you were the girl in those pictures upstairs, weren't you?" She looked at the blonde, who looked kindly back.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you, Saiyoku."

"Ahuh."

"Riku. Unfortunately, it appears that Sora's memories are not going to be easy to return to him. There's a bit of… a setback, if you will." DiZ explained.

"And that is?"

"Sora's memories have fallen into someone else… a boy in the Organization. He has some sort of connection to Sora, and seeing that he's part of the Organization—."

"This guy is Sora's Nobody, isn't he?" Saiyoku interrupted him, piecing together the information.

"Yes."

"Sora's Nobody… why would someone like Sora's Nobody be part of the Organization?" Riku asked, not quite sure about this information.

"It seems the leader of the Organization, Xemnas, has already recruited him. He was staying in Twilight Town for a very short time when the Organization found him."

"But why?" Saiyoku asked.

"Well, what do you think? This boy is Sora's Nobody, and Sora is the Keyblade Master, which means he will have great power compared to the other members of the Organization."

"What do you need us to do?" Saiyoku asked, obviously wanting to help Sora out as best as she can.

"We need to gather more information on this boy first. Then, we'll have to bring him away from the Organization. He'll need to rejoin with Sora after that. Then he'll gain the memories that were placed inside his Nobody."

"So, we'll be the ones gathering information… right?"

DiZ nodded, "Find out what the Organization is doing, and if you are able, stop their missions. We cannot let them fulfill their plan."

"Got it. You're going to help to, aren't you, Riku?" Saiyoku looked up at him, but he was staring at the pod.

"How is he, Naminè?"

She looked up at Sora, and then back to Riku, "He's growing, that's for sure. He has very little of his memories back though, since most of them have fallen to his Nobody."

"Does he even remember us?"

"He remembered you and Saiyoku, but…"

"He didn't remember Kairi… huh…" Riku shook his head, "Well, I guess we'll have to help. Sora needs to wake up. He's the Keyblade Master AND I told him to take care of Kairi. He's not getting off that easily," Riku turned to Saiyoku, "C'mon. Let's go."

"And where is it we are going?"

"To the Organization's stronghold: Castle Oblivion."

"Actually, Riku, the Organization's stronghold is in The World That Never Was. The huge castle is theirs. That's where you'll want to go." DiZ interrupted them.

"Alright then, we'll go there." Riku opened up a Dark portal and stepped through, Saiyoku looking behind her.

"Bye! We'll see you later!"

"Let us know of any information you find out."

"Got it!"


	5. Nobody or Somebody

Saiyoku walked out of the Dark portal first, Riku right behind her. They were right before a huge drop off held a huge floating silver castle, the same strange emblems on it from the coded insignia. A huge moon even BIGGER than the castle that was in the shape of a heart hung eerily behind it, casting a strange glow on the whole skyscraper lined city.

"Man, the Organization's got it made… that castle is huge! And floating!" Saiyoku crept to the edge of the cliff and peered over the side.

"Which brings us to the fact that we need to find another way to get in there. I'll look around the city while you look inside the castle." Riku grabbed her and pulled her away from the edge, "And DON'T get caught, got it?"

"Yeah, I know." She slipped through the portal she opened and disappeared, leaving Riku to handle scoping out the rest of the world.

Saiyoku opened an entrance out of Betwixt and Between and peered through, only her head poking out. She was momentarily confused but quickly realized she was upside down. "Oh, well way to go." She whispered to herself and looked around. It was all white inside, several gray couches and tables all cluttered around each other, like some sort of gathering area. There was only one way in or out and across from the wall with the doorway was a huge window that covered the entire wall, a perfect view of the huge heart-shaped moon.

"Hmph, guess no one's here." She climbed through and flipped right side up, landing on her feet shakily. She closed the portal on the ceiling and groaned, "I really need to work on that." She looked around, examining their things. It was all very bland and boring, like the Nobodies didn't have any sense of interest at all. Muffled voices were coming from down the hall, and Saiyoku quickly opened another portal and slid through, hoping and praying to open another one on the ceiling once she got through. Sure enough, it opened on the ceiling, and she sat and watched.

"Agh, the Superior's gotta have a better way of giving us these speeches. They're so boring." The red head from the pictures said as he walked into the room first, followed by another blonde guy, a man with long black hair pulled back into several long dreadlocks, another man with black and silver hair tied back into one long ponytail, a guy with short light blonde hair and a beard, a long, blue haired man with pointy ears, and lastly the blonde kid from the pictures who was in deep conversation with a black haired girl that strangely resembled Kairi.

"I know, right? It's always about, 'oh, we need hearts. We have to go get hearts'." The other blonde guy said, "Yeah, sure we need to go get hearts, but before he gets a heart, he needs to get a life!"

"Ha, you said it Demyx." The red head told him, laughing.

"Are you two done making fun of Xemnas?" The blue haired guy approached them, a scowl on battle-scarred face.

"Relax, Saïx. We were only joking." The red head said again, while the blonde immediately stopped laughing.

"I would think you'd have more respect for him, Axel." Saïx said coldly.

Axel merely scowled and, showing no more interest for his fellow comrade, approached the two members who were chatting in the back of the group.

"Hey, you two. What'cha talkin' about?" Axel asked happily, as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, hi Axel." The girl said, smiling.

"Hey, Xion. So, tomorrow we have to make sure that we all team up together for our mission. After all Xion, you and I both know that Roxas can't take care of himself out there."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas playfully punched him in the arm, and all three of them laughed, "And we can't forget about the usual spot!"

"Of course? How could we?"

_Seems like those three are really good friends… Hmm… But what really puzzles me is why that Xion girl looks so much like Kairi… and Riku said that Kairi and Naminè smell the same, so Naminè's probably Kairi's Nobody. Someone can't have TWO Nobodies, can they?_

Saiyoku continued to watch them through the portal, everyone just mainly chatting. Through bits of conversation, she learned that the guy with the black dreadlocks was named Xaldin, the guy with the ponytail was named Xigbar, and the guy with the blonde hair and beard was named Luxord._ Then there's Xemnas, and there was Marluxia, Zexion, Lexaeus, Larxene, and Vexen. One, two, three, four… wait… There's fourteen members in Organization XIII? That can't be right…_ She counted again and got the same number. _That's weird…_

She ducked out of the hole and closed it, opening a new one that was a huge blue floored hall with a drop off surrounding the edge of the rectangular floor. A balcony hung over each side of it, the way to get there obviously by means of some other way. Saiyoku looked around, kind of bored with how the castle was turning out. It was all the same tone.

She reached the middle of the floor when six white things appeared, surrounding her. They had the same insignia as the ones on the outside of the castle, and they swayed like they were dancing. Their fingers were clamped together and they had zippers shutting their mouths. It was easy to tell that they weren't something to really fear.

Saiyoku drew her Keyblade and took them out one by one. They moved by stretching their feet way out in front of them and snapping back like a rubber band, still swaying all the while. She learned that if she slide dashed around them, it confused them momentarily, wrapping themselves up in their long spindly limbs from trying to spin toO quickly. After the last one disappeared, Riku stepped though a Dark portal.

"C'mon, let's go back to DiZ."

"Already?"

"Yeah, we need to tell him what we found."

"Okay."

--

"So, you're saying there's fourteen members?" Riku asked, leaning against the metal wall. Saiyoku nodded, "Yeah. There's Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Saïx, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Roxas, and Xion. The ones that died in Castle Oblivion were Marluxia, Vexen, Larxene, Zexion, and Lexaeus. Together that's fourteen, unless I'm wrong."

"You'll need to find out which one of those is one of the newest members. The newest male member will be Sora's Nobody." DiZ said. He was sitting on the chair in front of his very complex computer. Neither Saiyoku nor Riku would even dare and mess with it. They'd never even touched one before.

"Right."

"Find out their next mission and prevent them at any costs. Riku, you will invade their castle. Saiyoku, try to stop their mission, but do not attack them. We cannot be sure on who the Nobody is, and with only one of you versus a possibility of two Organization members… if you threaten them, they'll take you down and get rid of the threat. There's also a possibility that they will summon the smaller Nobodies they control."

"Smaller Nobodies?"

"Those white creatures that attacked you." Riku explained.

"And how'd you figure that?" Saiyoku asked, knowing that neither of them had known what smaller Nobodies looked like.

"They had the same insignias as the Organization on their castle. If the Organization is made of Nobodies, then of course they'd have that insignia the same as smaller ones." He shrugged his shoulders as if it was easy to figure out.

"Alright, well, when do you want us to take care of the next job?" Saiyoku gave the 'stop-being-a-know-it-all' look to Riku and turned to DiZ for the answer.

"Tomorrow will be fine. It's likely that they will not send others on a mission until tomorrow as well. Report here before you go. I will give you more information on what I want you to do then." DiZ turned back to his computer.

"Right." Saiyoku and Riku said in unison, and they exited the mansion through a Dark portal.

--

Saiyoku stepped through, her hood pulled up again. Riku had decided to go straight to the hotel, while Saiyoku had wanted to check out some of the unfamiliar places around town first. She closed the portal behind her and looked around. She was in a huge open space with a few benches surrounding the slightly raised concrete ground in the middle. A competition board was next to a couple of the benches near one of the exits to town. Three more exits were located to the southeast, southwest, and northwest of the middle facing the board.

"Hey! You!" A male voice called about behind her, making her jump nearly four feet. _Why is it that everyone must sneak up behind me?_

She spun around, careful not to speak just yet. She had to keep her cover, so she just cocked her head to the side in a form of 'what?'

"Quit sneaking around my town, outsider." A guy with a black ski hat over his short blonde hair, a scar across his face, short blue vest, long white cloak, baggy pants and black combat boots was followed by two of his friends. The girl to his right had light purple hair and a gray tunic shirt over indigo shorts. She also wore black combat boots. The other boy to his left was tall and burly, and reminded Saiyoku of a gorilla. He had short, scruffy black hair and wore a red and white basketball jersey, baggy jeans, and sneakers, as well as some arm bands on his wrists.

Saiyoku shrugged her shoulders, and the boy's eyes narrowed, "What? If you don't feel like leaving, then I'll make you leave." He and his gang took their stances, but Saiyoku just smiled beneath her hood, "So it's a fight you want?"

The burly boy looked hard, "Hey, Seifer, it's a girl, y'know!"

"Female." The girl gave a curt reply.

"Yeah, I got that. If you don't get outta my town, then I'll force you out if you keep disrespecting the rules around here."

"Rules? Lemme guess, you made them up. Didn't know that this was a town full of Kindergarteners that needed a gang of losers' assistance." She smirked, enjoying herself.

Seifer clenched his teeth as three more people joined the party.

"Seifer!" Hayner yelled, obviously infuriated.

Pence and Olette followed him, but Pence stopped when he saw Saiyoku, "Huh? Who's that?"

"Outsider, that's what." Seifer ignored Hayner who stopped too, just now noticing.

"Huh?"

_Great…_

"Wow, the party just keeps getting better. You there!" She pointed to Hayner, "You friends with him?" She pointed to Seifer.

"What? No way!"

"Then tell me, is he really in charge of the rules here?"

Before Hayner could actually respond, Seifer interrupted him, "Shut up, loser."

"What'd you say?" Hayner growled, ticked off.

While they continued their little fight from whatever it was before, Saiyoku did a little bow and opened a Dark portal behind her backing into it.

"Later, losers!" She yelled at them before disappearing back into it. She closed it again and backed into something, surprising her. Someone grabbed her from behind and she managed to turn her head.

"Riku, what are you doing?"

"Come with me. I should've never let you go off on your own."

"You're not my dad, jeez."

"You could've gotten both of us known as the 'outsiders'. Not a good reputation to publicly have here." He pulled them both through another portal and shoved her down on the couch.

"_Ow._" She emphasized, annoyed.

Riku went into his bedroom and shut the door immediately, only leaving Saiyoku to roll her eyes.

"Sure, drag me back here and then shut yourself in your room. Thanks." She said, loud enough for him to hear her through the door.

"Your welcome." Was his muffled, sarcastic reply.

"That was sarcasm!" She reminded him.

"I know it was."


	6. A Hint and A Forgiven Apology

They both walked in silence to the mansion, their hoods up, their profiles low, just some creepy people dressed in black. Yep, they were sure to stand out. The insignia in the mansion was still gone, so they merely passed down the steps and into the computer room, where DiZ was waiting.

"Ready to begin?" He asked, both taking off their hoods.

"What, no 'good morning'?" Saiyoku asked bitterly, Riku just looked off to the side.

The corners of DiZ's mouth twitched slightly into a smile, but it was gone instantly. "Riku, I need you to get a layout of the castle as best you can and find out what you can on the Organization. Saiyoku, today the members Roxas will be out on a mission in Halloween Town today. I need you to go and scope out what it is that he is after and if possible, stop it. Find out more on his friends and the other members in particular. Those three seem the most suspected to Sora's Nobody."

Both Saiyoku and Riku nodded, "Got it."

"You must be on your way. Saiyoku, they have already left, so get a move on."

Saiyoku nodded again and stepped though a Dark portal, disappearing.

"I hope I chose you two for the right jobs today."

"She'll do fine. She doesn't slack off." Riku said quietly, and DiZ sighed, "I'm not worried about that. I know that she doesn't have as much fighting experience as you or Sora at this point due to what happened to her when Ansem took over, and that's what worries me. If she does get in a fight with any Organization members, it will not be easy for her."

--

Saiyoku stepped through, arriving in a creepy town with a dark overcast sky, the moon shining brightly. Rod iron gates lined the stone fences and there were gargoyle statues with jack-o'-lanterns everywhere. Saiyoku even felt herself change, though not much. Her canine teeth sharpened to a sharp point and her eyes changed from pale brown to a vibrant orange, the pupils large and foreboding. Everything else that was covered by the Nobody cloak, shoes, pants, gloves, plus her hood didn't change. _Hmm, guess it's because of the powers this cloak provides. If Nobody cloaks don't allow the wearer to change… then what happens when a Nobody comes to this world? If I'm right, then it'll be easy to find Roxas since he's a Nobody and Nobodies don't change to the world._

She stood there for a while, planning out what to do if she finds him. But then she had an idea. She pulled off her hood for a second and felt her hair change instantly. It turned to black feathers sprouting from her hairline, her bangs disappearing. Her face turned black where her eyes were, like she was wearing a blindfold that allowed you to see her eyes. She giggled before pulling her hood back on and heading toward the center of town.

There was no one around. Several houses circled the town square and a guillotine stood alone to her left. A gargoyle fountain was in the center of the town square and was filled with strange green glowing water. The only other way to go was through the graveyard behind a house. She approached, but slid behind the gate when she saw Roxas watching a strange white man and a floating white creature. She realized that the white creature was a ghost dog after it started to bark hoarsely. The white man had no eyes and was extremely tall; he wore a pinstriped black and white suit and had bony hands. He was a living skeleton.

"On Halloween, I'll light these lanterns and make my grand entrance! They're in for quite a surprise." The man waved his arms in emphasis, and the dog nodded in agreement. Oh! I'm almost late! I better hurry to the lab. Be a good boy, Zero." He turned and came straight toward both me and Roxas.

_Shoot!_ Saiyoku opened a portal and slid through, closing it behind her. She didn't know what Roxas did, but when she came out, he was looking at the lantern. He picked up one of the jack-o'-lanterns and threw it at the lantern, which exploded on contact. The lantern lit, and Roxas proceeded to do the same to all the lanterns. When they were all lit, the coffin on the far end opened, and he pushed the lid back, jumping in and falling amidst the blackness.

Saiyoku trailed him, careful not to be seen by the skeleton man and the dog. She jumped in after him and was immediately sucked through a long spiraling tunnel. She slowed as it reached the surface again, and she was gently pushed forward and out. It was another large fenced in area, with the same jack-o'-lanterns as before.

The lanterns were everywhere, and Roxas thankfully had his back turned to her at the time. There was a small stone and rod iron fence right behind, but if she ducked behind it, he wouldn't see her. She avoided his sight and hid behind it, waiting until he passed by before switching to the other side.

Once the lanterns were lit, another door to a mausoleum opened, and she ducked through before Roxas did. She was in a huge fenced in area again, a tall and curly hill in the middle, the moon hanging just behind it. She ran over behind it before Roxas came through.

When he did, Saiyoku peered around the side to see. A little boy in red that looked like the devil himself and two friends, a witch and a skeleton boy, held a jack-o'-lantern bomb in his hand and crept up behind Roxas.

"Stop!" The little devil boy said, and he lifted the bomb up. Roxas spun around and was hit in the chest with the bomb, the dust and pumpkin guts flying everywhere. He cried out and dusted himself off while the three kids laughed.

"Ah! It's you kids again!"

The three troublemakers ignored him and stood at the foot of the hill in a line, barring his way.

"You can't go past here!" The devil boy said.

"Road block!" The witch yelled.

"Catch!" The skeleton boy screamed at Roxas and he threw another pumpkin bomb at him, but Roxas dodged, not letting himself get hit again. He drew his weapon and growled, "Rrgh… Stop getting in my way!"

_That weapon… is that? That's the Kingdom Key! Roxas has a Keyblade? Then HE must be Sora's Nobody!_ Saiyoku opened up a portal beneath her and sank into it so when Roxas was fighting those three, he wouldn't see her. She kept it small enough so she could see out of it though. When the fight was over, Roxas put away his Keyblade, the three annoying kids together again.

"Okay, okay! We give up!"

"Take it easy!"

"Tell me why you're blocking the way." Roxas said threateningly.

"If we didn't, you'd go back there and see the—er, nothing." The skeleton boy started to explain, but his friends glared at him.

"The what? What's back there?" Roxas prodded, immediately interested.

"N-nothing!" Their leader said, and the witch agreed, "Yeah, a whole lot of it!"

"We promise we won't pull any more pranks! Please let us go, pleeease!" The skeleton boy begged, not that he was telling the truth.

"Pranks? Getting in my way was a prank? Why even bother?"

"Because it's fun!" said the devil boy.

"Fun? I don't really see how it's—"

"Well, it is!" The witch interrupted him.

"Pranks are the best!"

"See for yourself!" They all jumped up and the devil boy threw another bomb that hit Roxas square in the chest again.

"Waugh!" He cried out again and the little skeleton boy yelled, "Now's our chance!"

"Run awaaay!"

The three kids threw a bomb at one of the walls, opening a huge crack in the wall, allowing them to slide through. Roxas sighed and began exploring the place they were in. Saiyoku pulled herself out of the portal and watched. After a few minutes of searching, several Heartless appeared. He took care of them easily with a few swipes of his Keyblade. _Not bad._

He took care of a few waves, but after a while, the Heartless refused to show themselves. He shrugged and walked away, back through the door. Saiyoku assumed he was going back to the castle, so she stayed put.

"Okay, so exploring the world looking for Heartless… why is the Organization killing Heartless? What's their motive?" She muttered to herself, "Okay, well, I'll need more info. For now, all I know is that the Organization is killing off Heartless, and that Roxas has a Keyblade, which means he could very well prove to be Sora's Nobody." She opened another portal and slipped through, "I've gotta go tell DiZ."

--

"Roxas has a Keyblade?" Riku asked, trying to process this through his head.

"DiZ did say that they wanted to pull Sora's Nobody in because he had immense power, didn't he? That immense power must mean the Keyblade, which means that Roxas is Sora's Nobody!"

"But someone else has one too. That girl. I saw her sparring with the red haired guy, Axel, before he went off on a mission as well."

"Xion has one too? But… wait, DiZ said that Sora's Nobody was a young man, didn't he? So then that couldn't possibly be right…"

"Will you two let me in on a word or two?" DiZ interrupted them; he was sitting at his computer again.

"Sorry." They both muttered in unison, and DiZ sighed.

"It's all very confusing. But, we MUST gain more data on the Organization before we come to conclusions. That will be both of your jobs. Riku, you did an excellent job of mapping out the castle, but this time, I want you to stay here. I have reliable info that two members are scheduled to be sent here on a mission. I want you to intervene. We must keep them away from Sora. Saiyoku, you will continue with your missions as planned."

"Of course."

"Meet back here before you leave again." They turned to leave, "Oh, wait Saiyoku."

"Hmm?" She turned around and a bag of munny was placed in her hands. "What's this?"

"Munny for where you're staying. You won't have time to perform jobs much anymore, so this is for you two."

"Thanks."

Saiyoku stepped through the portal after Riku and motioned with her hand to close it. She nearly opened another passage to go exploring again, but Riku caught her hand.

"Don't even think about it. If you want to go around and explore, wait until we change out of our Organization outfits."

"Fine." She scowled.

She changed real fast before stepping outside; it was nice to be out of that cloak again. She wandered around the shops, through the tunnels, around the Train Station before going down the hill. There was another alleyway to the right that she had never been to, so she wandered down there. A chain-link gate opened up to a storage space that was cut off by a hanging, old, torn drape. She pulled it aside and stepped through.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette were chatting happily together inside their hangout. The place had a dartboard, some posters, as well as some knick-knacks every which way. When she arrived, they all stopped talking.

"Hey." Olette said warily.

"Hey guys. S-sorry about the other day…" Saiyoku had always had a hard time saying sorry, and this time wasn't any easier.

"It's no biggie. Promise." Hayner said, totally relaxed.

"Huh?"

"We understand. I mean, we shouldn't have been butting in like that. If you don't wanna tell us, it's fine." Pence explained with a wide smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah." They all said in unison, and Saiyoku grinned.

"Thanks guys. You don't know what that means to us."

"Oh! Hey, Kamei, did you see that outsider yesterday?" Pence asked excitedly, like it was something big.

"Outsider?" Saiyoku asked calmly. She was used to talking her way out of things.

"Yeah. She was dressed in all black but we couldn't see her face. She was taunting Seifer's gang of all things."

"Yeah, she's a pretty good escapee. She got me and Seifer in a fight so we'd get distracted, and then took off through this weird black portal thing."

Saiyoku cocked her head like she was interested. It was weird hearing this from them, since after all that had been her.

"How did you know it was a girl?"

"Oh, she was taunting Seifer. She said something like, 'Didn't know this town was full of a bunch of Kindergarteners that needed a gang of losers' assistance' or something like that." Hayner said, obviously infuriated._ Oh yeah, I did say that… guess I was living in the moment… heh, heh._

"Wow, she sounds like someone you don't wanna mess with."

"Nah, we could take her down. Anyway, where've you been?"

"Huh? Oh, I was uh…"

"Oh, I get it. It's cool. You don't have to tell us." Pence said, saving Saiyoku.

"Thanks."

"So, what brought you back here?"

"Just exploring. Getting to know the town a little better each day."

"Glad to hear it." Olette said kindly, "Hey, you know at the end of the summer, there's a Struggle Tournament. Maybe you and Kemyou could compete!"

"Maybe… but I wouldn't count on it. We don't really know where we'll be each day. We could be gone tomorrow. It all depends."

"Really? Well then, will you come back?"

"Sure. When we can." She smiled and nodded, "But, uh, I really do have to go back to the hotel."

"Okay, go ahead. Oh, wait." Hayner said, "Promise you'll come back to visit us if you don't come back tomorrow?"

Saiyoku turned and nodded, "Of course. We'll come back. Bye!" She ran off and waved behind her.

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

"Bye, Kamei!"


	7. Xion's Defeat and Heartless VS Nobody

**Several Days later**

The Keyblade went flying in the air, landing hard in the stone walkway. Xion quivered on all fours, panting heavily, but the lack of strength caused her to collapse onto the ground. Riku put away his Keyblade in a flash of lighting and Darkness. He turned around to face his victim, his hood down so she could see his face. He walked to her side while she struggled to summon the strength to get back up.

He grabbed her hood and yanked it off her head. Her image was fuzzy, even though the darkness in his heart was pushed back. He pulled off his blindfold on the left side, just to get a good look at her. The image cleared and Riku saw not Xion's face, but someone else's…

The blindfold fell back over his eye and he backed away. She managed to get back up on all fours.

"Your face… Who are you really? And why do you have a Keyblade?"

Xion pulled her hood back over her face, "Tell me first, why you are dressed as one of us."

He stared at her for a few more moments before crossing the pathway to where her Keyblade was stuck upright in the ground.

"To make sure my best friend… sleeps in peace." He picked up her Keyblade as she sat up on one knee, "I don't know who you're supposed to be. But… you can't fight fire with sparks. This Keyblade, it's a sham—worthless." He tossed her Keyblade next to her, the sharp metal clanging against the stone.

"My Keyblade is not a sham! What gives you the right to say that?" She grabbed her Keyblade and charged at Riku, her anger welling up inside her. Riku stood still until she was only a few feet away. He spun around her and struck her at the base of her spine as she passed, knocking her to the ground again, her Keyblade disappearing in a flash of Light.

He stood up from his crouch position, "Find a new crowd. Trust me. Those guys are bad news." He walked away toward the gate of the castle.

"Why? You're the real sham."

Riku froze and sighed to himself, "Fair enough. You could say I am… the biggest nobody of them all." He continued to move toward the gate where Saiyoku was waiting. Xion watched him before screaming a defeated cry.

Saiyoku waited patiently at the gate, sighing when she heard Xion scream. "It's almost kind of… pitiful, don't you think? That an Organization member could lose so easily?"

Riku sighed and looked back, "You don't think I was too harsh on her, do you?"

Jealousy flamed up inside Saiyoku, if only for a moment, "Nope. I think you were just fine with how you handled her." She didn't know why she was jealous though…

He nodded and opened a Dark portal. "DiZ will be wondering where you are. You're not supposed to be here. You should be in Twilight Town." He motioned for her to go.

"I was bored. He didn't give me anything to do today, so I didn't want to just sit there and wait. He's not going to care that I'm in Beast's Castle."

"Just go back."

The jealousy flared up again, "Why? Why do you want me to go back so badly?" She glared at him, but he just turned away.

"I… I just need some time alone." He began to walk back out into the courtyard.

"Time alone with HER?" She called after him, her pale brown eyes flashed with anger. He stopped and slightly turned his head, his expression one of confusion.

"Saiyoku… I've spent all this time with you, yet you're jealous of this one insignificant Nobody?" He walked past the distraught Xion, pulled up his hood, and jumped up onto the castle walls, disappearing from sight.

Saiyoku stared at the ground for a while before looking back at the portal. She glared one last time at Xion before being consumed by the Darkness and disappearing.

Riku hopped up onto one of the roofs of the castle. He stood facing the forest that seemed to stretch for miles, hoping that somehow… he'd figure this whole thing out. Who was that girl? Xion… why does she have Sora's face when he sees her clearly? Even though it's through the Darkness, sometimes, the best way to see things… is when they're hiding in the Dark.

Riku stretched out his hand and clenched it, as if he was grabbing a Keyblade. The whole scene replayed in his head as he tried to figure out what he was missing. She could use a Keyblade… when he saw her clearly, she looked like Sora… what was going on?

He looked at his hand and then took off his hood again. Riku sighed and sat down on the edge of the roof. He couldn't head back to Twilight Town just yet. He needed to think some more… what was he missing?

--

Saiyoku skipped the Mansion and went straight back to the hotel, where she promptly took off all of her Organization gear and laid back on the couch, completely sprawled out. She stared up at the ceiling for the longest time. She wanted to DO something, but she didn't know what. She was too tired to go down to the Usual Spot, or even go exploring around Twilight Town. Going to other worlds was an option, but she didn't really know which one she wanted to go to or whether she was really up for it.

In the end, Saiyoku just laid her head back, closed her eyes and fell asleep, too worn out from yesterday's mission. Following Axel around was hard work, especially when he's on his guard more than usual and you have to keep opening and re-opening Dark portals. Those deplete your energy more than anything, and doing it fifteen times in one day is overkill.

--

Riku arrived inside the hotel room, his hood pulled up again. He lowered it and closed the door behind him, already returning from DiZ. He really hadn't cared that Saiyoku had taken off, as long as she hadn't interfered or messed up the mission. He headed for his bedroom, but stopped when he saw Saiyoku asleep on the couch. He hadn't seen her at first.

"Hmph. I see you took to coming back just fine."

She was practically falling off the couch, sleeping restlessly. If she moved again, she was sure to fall right off. Riku walked to her side and picked her up, taking her to her bedroom and setting her on her bed. He left and closed the door behind him, entering his own and shutting the door.

--

"Riku!" Saiyoku pounded on the door for him to open up, but Riku only groaned.

"What?" He answered sleepily amongst the pillows.

"Riku, c'mon, wake up! We have a situation in the Sandlot!" She pounded on the door a few more times before Riku finally opened up. Saiyoku was already dressed in her Organization outfit and everything.

"What's happening?"

"Nobodies and Heartless are battling it out. We need to get rid of them now before they harm anyone but each other. There's gotta be like… hundreds!"

"Alright." He shut the door and got dressed. Saiyoku was already heading out the door when he came out, and she disappeared into a Dark portal, Riku following. It disappeared behind them.

Hundreds of Heartless and Nobodies filled the Sandlot, mainly just Shadows and Dusks. They were ultimately preoccupied, so they didn't even notice the two black clad friends enter the scene in a Dark portal. Their hoods were up and their Keyblades drawn. Saiyoku took the left half while Riku took the right. The sounds of steel slicing through Darkness and Twilight filled the Sandlot, but more and more just kept coming.

Stronger ones appeared too: Assassins, Commanders, then Dancers and Destroyers, and then Berserkers and Zip Slashers. They were constant. Riku and Saiyoku were struggling to keep them back, to kill the first ones before back-up came. It became almost impossible. They were surrounded; Riku and Saiyoku back to back. Then, worse things happened.

"Hey! I thought I told you to get outta my town!" Seifer came running in, holding a Struggle bat, his cronies behind him. He attacked one of the Commanders that returned with a vicious kick to his chest. He was knocked back, his friends trying to stop his fall.

"Hey, that wasn't cool, y'know?" The burly teenager said to the Heartless.

"Payback." The girl said, and she kicked the Commander's face in, sending it flying.

"Wow, that was nice, Fuu, y'know?" He did a sort of fist pump when Fuu pointed behind him, "Rai."

Rai turned around and punched the Heartless right through, making it disappear in a flash of smoke.

"What are you three doing here!?" Saiyoku yelled at them as Seifer picked himself up.

"Protecting our town. These losers need to get the heck outta here before I really have to start taking 'disciplinary measures'." He took his stance, his friends doing the same.

"Those 'losers' will steal your heart. Get out of here. That one you three just took out is one of the weaker ones here. Go! You can't take these guys out with just sheer willpower!" Saiyoku yelled at them while destroying a Dancer. It recoiled and then spun around grabbing Saiyoku by the arm and flipping her around backwards tightly before kicking her, sending her falling forward amidst the Heartless and other Nobodies.

Riku back flipped behind the Dancer and took it out with two strikes. He helped Saiyoku up while fighting off a mix of Heartless and Nobodies, who had stopped fighting each other and decided to take care of the imposters first.

"She's right. Get out of here." Riku told them, slashing at a Berserker.

Seifer and his gang ignored them both, attacking at the nearest enemy they could reach… which consisted of another Commander, an Assassin, and a Zip Slasher. They were all immediately thrown backward against the wall, the one nearest the entrance to the back alley. After they collapsed on the ground, Hayner and the gang ran forward from the alley, having seen Seifer and his friends being attacked by weird things.

"What are they!?" Hayner asked Seifer, and then saw the outsider with another person in black with them. "Are they controlling them?"

"Get outta here! All of you!" Saiyoku yelled, taking out a Commander, the heart rising into the air and disappearing. They all watched as she attacked a Zip Slasher, barely doing any damage. It reached around with its bladed hands and nearly impaled her right through, but she blocked it just in time.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette all saw her weapon clearly and immediately recognized it. "Kamei!?"

Riku hit the blades in an uppercut that freed Saiyoku from her fierce block. They both attacked the Zip Slasher and finally destroyed it, Riku taking the final blow to the head. Saiyoku flipped over to where a few Commanders had grouped, and took them out with a huge blast of Firaga from her Keyblade, sapping from her magic supply greatly.

Hayner and the others just watched as the two best friends took out the Heartless and Nobodies one by one. They finally stopped coming in waves, and what was there was what was left. Finally, after what seemed like forever, with a little help from the others, the Heartless and Nobodies disappeared, hearts floating up into the sky, disappearing somewhere.

"Kamei!" Hayner and the gang surrounded her, but she backed away.

"N-no… look, we really have to go." She looked up at Riku for some assistance. He shook his head no, "You got yourself into this; find a way out on your own." He disappeared into a black portal and Saiyoku edged her way over there, but then Riku decided to be mean and closed it on her.

"Oh, come on!" She screamed at him, but there was no answer.

"So, you are Kamei, aren't you?" Olette asked.

Saiyoku stayed silent for the longest time before giving a slight chuckle. She pulled off her hood and flipped her hair out of the black cloak, "Nope. Sorry."

"But…" Pence looked at her close, "You are Kamei. You are."

"Nah, that's not my name. Try again."

"Yes it is; you're Kamei." Hayner told her, but she just laughed.

"Three strikes and you're out. See ya guys later. Try again some other time!" She opened a portal while the stunned friends didn't have time to respond. She ran into it and quickly closed it, opening another while following Riku's Darkness to lead her to him. He was so going to pay for that…


	8. Axel's Unexpected Interrogation

**Several weeks later**

DiZ walked into the Pod room where Naminè was watching Sora's condition quietly.

"You seem to be struggling."

Naminè held her hands together close to her heart and bowed, a worried expression plain on her face, "A Nobody is interfering, I think."

DiZ stood by her side, looking up at Sora's concealed sleeping figure, "A Nobody? You mean other than Sora's Nobody?"

"Yes. I keep trying to piece his memory back together, but what if some of the pieces got lost? There would be no way for me to finish. If that happened—and they found their way into someone else—he'd never get them back."

"Oh, I think he can do without a memory or two."

Naminè turned to DiZ, "But what if he needs those memories in order to wake up? What if they're the key?"

"Naminè… You are a witch with power over Sora's memories and those connected to him. Are you seeing something I cannot?"

She turned back to Sora, "If his memories become her memories… she will never survive it."

DiZ glanced over at her, "She?"

"Yes."

DiZ spun around and exited the room, "Saiyoku!" He called out to her when he entered the computer room. Saiyoku appeared through a Dark portal, hearing her name.

"You called?"

"I want you to investigate whose Nobody Xion is. Where she comes from, how she came to be, everything. And I want you to do it NOW."

Saiyoku clenched her face, "I thought we figured it was Roxas. Why are we so interested in Xion?"

"Just do it!"

Saiyoku was taken aback. Something had obviously dawned on him and was making him anxious. She turned and re-entered her Dark portal and disappeared. Another portal opened and Riku stepped inside Betwixt and Between.

"Where are you headed?" Riku asked and Saiyoku smiled, "Wherever Axel is."

"Axel? Why are you going to see Axel?"

"We all agreed that the Organization is obviously keeping things from Roxas. We need to talk to someone who has more info on the situation at hand. Since Axel seems to have some connections inside the main of Organization XIII, and is one of Xion's best friends, the best we can do is interrogate him."

"DiZ asked you to do this?"

Saiyoku nodded and opened another exit, following Axel's Darkness, "Yeah. See you later." She vanished, leaving Riku to return back to the Mansion. Saiyoku appeared in Neverland, where she was surrounded by a bunch of mini rock islands cluttered together near Hook's ship. The last time she was over there was when she was stuck inside Riku's head, and she didn't even spend much time there at the time. Ansem pulled her out to make room for his possession then. Axel was on one of the rock islands to the north. It was hard to see what he was doing from a distance, but to Saiyoku, it looked like he was floating above the rock…

Suddenly, Saiyoku was bombarded by a bunch of gold dust. "What? What's going on?" A little glowing faerie was floating in front of her. She obviously wanted attention.

"What do you want? What is it?" Saiyoku asked, confused. The little faerie couldn't speak, but when she was trying to tell Saiyoku her problem, she made little tinkling sounds like small bells. She tugged on Saiyoku's hood behind her head and started dragging her toward the ship.

"You want me to go over there? What for?"

A huge explosion sounded everywhere, and a giant cannonball fell a few feet away from Axel, who dodged just in time. More cannonballs flew up into the air from the ship. The faerie pulled Saiyoku even more frantically.

"No way! I'm not getting blown to smithereens. I'm not going." The faerie pulled her even harder, but Saiyoku pulled against her.

"What!? Why do you want me to go down there for?"

The faerie pointed to one of the oncoming cannonballs and made a huge 'x' with her arms. She then pointed to Axel and pointed to the cannonball again, making the 'x' once more.

"You want me to stop them from firing at Axel?"

She nodded, and Saiyoku had to agree. If they hit him, she'd lose her chance at interrogating him. She ran to the edge of the rock island she was on, but was at a loss. It was too far to jump to the next one.

She looked at the faerie, "How am I supposed to get over there?"

The faerie flew up and around Saiyoku, sprinkling the same golden dust as before. She twirled in front of Saiyoku and motioned with her hands to fly.

"Did you just make me able to fly?" The faerie nodded, and Saiyoku thought to herself, _Okay, I guess if she wants me to help Axel and she allowed me to fly, I might as well try._ She focused and suddenly felt herself to float above the ground, which was in fact very disorienting.

"Whoa, okay, um… hold on." She motioned for the faerie to wait as she got used to it. "Okay, let's go." She glided forward, dodging the oncoming cannonballs. She reached the bow of the ship and landed clumsily on the bowsprit, very nearly falling off. She jumped on deck and saw a bunch of deckhands loading the cannons. She drew her Keyblade and charged right through them, knocking them all back away from the cannons. She shoved on the first cannon and it toppled into the sea below. She continued on to the rest of them when Hook ran out of his quarters.

"What in the blazes is going on here you lazy bilge rats? I want all of you to start up the cannons again or I'll send you all to Davy Jones' locker!" Hook cried out as Saiyoku pushed the last one into the ocean with a crash. Hook followed the noise and saw her finish it off.

"You! I remember you! You were that girl that he always carried around! Riku! That was the boy's name! So, you were finally freed of the Darkness were you? Well blast it, your back, and disrupting our plans just like your filthy sorry excuse for a friend. Boys! Take care of her!" His hook flashed dangerously.

"I'd love to stick around Hook, but I've gotta fly. See ya!" She back flipped over the side and flew away.

"Blast her out of the sky!"

"B-b-but C-c-captain. She tossed all of our cannons on this side overboard. We can't shoot her down." Smee said quietly, and Hook cursed and spat, "Blast you!"

Saiyoku laughed and circled around some of the islands before landing on one nearby Axel. The faerie bowed in front of her as a sign of thanks and handed her an item before flying off, a trail of gold following her. Saiyoku looked at the item. It was a huge nugget of gold.

"Thanks!" She called after the faerie. Then she put it in one of her pockets and dove off the side of the cliff, pulling off before she hit the water. She flew around low until coming up on the opposite side of the island while his back was turned. She pulled her hood up and drew her Keyblade.

He turned around, knowing she was there, "Had fun following me around? You must be the imposter."

"You guessed correctly. And yes, I'm having a lot of fun following you around. Now tell me, what do you know about Xion's past?"

"Why should I tell you? Why do you need to know?" He summoned his chakrams in a spinning show of flame and took his stance, spinning them and tossing them up in his hands. Saiyoku took her stance as well.

"Because I need to help a friend. Would you like to help Xion? If you tell me what I want to know, then I can make her suffering stop." Saiyoku pulled off her hood. She hated fighting in it; she could never quite see what she was doing.

"Forget it!" Axel threw his chakrams at Saiyoku, flames erupting as they closed in on her. She blocked them and jumped up as he caught them and tossed them at her again. She glided away and landed behind him, striking him in the back. He recoiled and caught his chakrams. He came running up to her and struck her at the same time with both chakrams on her shoulders, knocking her to the ground at his feet. She rolled over and blocked his next attack, but he pounded at her Rising Dawn Keyblade over and over again. Training with Riku had never paid off so much.

She pushed against him and flipped to her feet, spinning around to hit him on his side. Rising Dawn made its mark, and Axel slid on his feet away from her. Metal hit metal, the clanging noises reverberating off the tall rocky island cliffs. Fire blasts and ice beams were shot back and forth. Saiyoku summoned more ice to the tip of her Keyblade and fired it at Axel, "I think you need to cool off!"

The ice beam hit Axel straight in the chest freezing the upper half of him. He was just about to warm up with his own fire but Saiyoku used Blizzaga on him, freezing his whole body in place except for his neck, his chakrams sticking out.

She knocked them out of his hands and held her Keyblade in front of his face.

"Now, tell me all you know about Xion. Where does she come from, who's Nobody is she, and why does she have a Keyblade?"

Axel looked away, silent. Saiyoku sighed and raised her Keyblade, "Fine. Be that way. But… it was the wrong answer." She placed Gravira on him, and the pressure on him rose. He was being pushed toward the ground, the ice holding him in place.

"Ow, ow, okay. I'll tell you." He choked out, the increased amount of gravity crushing him inside the ice.

Saiyoku stopped the spell and lowered her Keyblade, "That should've been your first answer. Now, tell me what you know."

He sighed, "I don't know who's Nobody she is, but I do know where she comes from. Castle Oblivion. She's… she's not a NORMAL Nobody… she's a puppet. She was created by somebody in Castle Oblivion. Whether it was Vexen or not who created her I don't know."

"She's… a puppet?"

"She was designed to gain the power of the Keyblade… and become a copy of Sora."

"Sora? But if you've got Roxas— and he's got the Keyblade too— then why do you guys need Xion?"

"I don't know. If you want even more information, you need to go talk to Saïx, but that's not gonna be easy." He laughed at the thought.

"So, let's see… She's a puppet who was designed to copy Sora and gain the power of the Keyblade. Does she know that she's a puppet?"

"I know that she's been absorbing some of Roxas' powers. What I don't know is that why they would want her TO absorb Roxas or whether she knows she's a puppet or not."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. That's all I know."

Saiyoku shot a ring of fire at him, the ice melting and setting him free. She handed him his chakrams and put her finger to her lips whispering, "Now we won't tell anyone that we had this talk, will we?"

Axel growled, "No."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Good. Thanks and good bye." She said as she disappeared into the Dark portal behind her, leaving Axel to the rest of his mission. She turned around and opened another, exiting Betwixt and Between. DiZ was at his computer again, looking over Sora's data.

"You're back."

"Yep, and I have information. About as much as I could get with one person."

"Person?" DiZ spun around on his chair, "You asked someone?"

"I may have interrogated a person of the Organization… who promised not to tell anyone of our discussion."

"And that would be…?"

"Axel."

DiZ laughed, "I see. Riku." He called out, Riku appearing from a Dark portal.

"Yes?"

"Saiyoku found out some information on Xion," He turned to Saiyoku, "What did you find out from him?"

"Xion is not a Nobody. She's more of a puppet that somebody created in Castle Oblivion. She was designed to absorb Sora's powers from Roxas and become a copy of Sora himself."

"That's why she looked like Sora…"

"Hm?" Saiyoku looked puzzled. Riku just shook his head, "Never mind."

"So, that's what's happening…" DiZ turned back to his computer and pressed several keys in earnest, "Riku. I want you to talk to Xion." He clicked a few more buttons, "She'll be in Destiny Islands tomorrow. Be careful."

Saiyoku sighed, "Guess I'll stay here tomorrow."

"You can hang around town." Riku offered, but Saiyoku shook her head, "I'd rather not. Hayner and the gang will pester me til there's no tomorrow."

"Suit yourself."

Riku opened a portal and stepped through. Saiyoku smiled to DiZ, "See you tomorrow," and left.


	9. Jealous Much?

Riku appeared next to the waterfall in his home, watching carefully that no one he remembered from his childhood were there, at least, no one that would recognize him. Up on the small islet just off the shore of the island was Xion, staring out at the sea before her. He walked up onto the roofs of the shacks and onto the raised part of the beach, where the bridge across the shore and ocean connected the islet to the island.

As he mounted the bridge, Xion suddenly changed into Roxas. Riku froze, not quite sure what to do or what was happening as she shook her head in pain, groaning and clenching her hands against her head. Her voice was not her own, but instead Roxas'.

She collapsed to the ground, changing back, holding herself up with one arm as she held her head with the other.

"They're my… my closest friends…" She rolled to her side and twitched in pain as her voice morphed into Riku's, changing into his younger self. Riku watched her in his own younger form writhe on the ground, but she changed yet again to Sora. The pain lightened and she changed back to herself, unconscious.

He kneeled beside her figure and picked her up, gently resting her head in his arms.

"Who am I?" She whispered, still asleep, "What am I… here for?"

Riku said nothing but tenderly brushed her hair out of her eyes. Footsteps made light thuds on the sand behind him, and he looked up, watching as Roxas ran into a Dark portal in front of one of the far shacks at the end of the island.

He looked back down at her sleeping figure and sighed. This could take a while.

--

"Saiyoku."

"Yes?"

DiZ turned around on his chair as the bored girl looked up, sitting against the metal wall in the computer room.

"I don't think Xion is working in the Organization's best interest any more. See that Riku knows that."

She perked up immediately, "I get to do something? All right!"

"But before you go, go talk to Naminè and find out how well Sora's coming along."

"Right," She turned and headed for the Pod Room.

--

Xion squinted her eyes before opening them, turning to Riku, her face showing signs of confusion.

"Are you…?"

"Riku. Sora's friend."

She was immediately awake, "Sora? You know Sora?" She sat up, Riku helping her. He stood up, "Yeah," and held out his hand to help her to her feet. She gratefully took his hand and the confusion returned to her face. Riku just looked straight ahead of him.

"Thank you. You saved me, but I don't know why… you did."

He turned to look at her before walking back to the bridge, "I guess… I just felt like it."

"Riku, please… tell me more—about Sora and that girl he's always with." Riku froze and without turning to her said quietly, "You mean Kairi."

Xion touched her head like that was something she should've remembered, "Kairi… That's right."

Riku walked back to her side.

"She's the one who looks so much like me."

"To Sora, she's someone very special."

Xion turned away from him and began to walk toward one of the palm trees, "It's just… I remember things about the two of them. But I'm nothing more than a puppet—something that somebody created. So why would I have… their memories." She placed her hand on the tree and rested her head against it. But then she glanced behind her to Riku, "Do you know where Sora is now?"

"That secret stays with me." He told her sternly.

She looked away, saddened, "Why's that?"

"Xion… your memories… they really belong to Sora."

She gazed at him behind her, "So you mean… I'm like a part of him?"

Riku walked to her side again in his long strides, "When his memories were scattered, some of them… found their way inside you." She gripped her head, "Now, Sora has been put to sleep so that we can piece together his memory. Except…"

"You can't, because part of it is inside of me. That means… he can't wake up."

"Yeah. You got it. But, if you go with me to Sora right now, we could give the memories inside you back to him."

She brushed a piece of her hair out of her face before looking up at him, a devilish smile on her face, "So, do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?"

He looked away, "Nah. I guess… I'm just sad."

The devilish smile faded and she instantly felt bad, "I'm sorry, but… I can't go with you. It's my friends—they need me."

--

Saiyoku stepped onto the sandy beach and looked around, not seeing anyone. Where could they be? She listened close for any sound at all, and then heard a girl's voice. _Xion._

She ran up the ramp and jumped up onto the roofs of the shacks before freezing, seeing Riku and Xion there. His hand was on her shoulder and she had her head down, her left hand holding her right arm. Instantaneous jealousy flared up inside Saiyoku. She just didn't understand why seeing Riku with Xion made her jealous like that. _Is it because Xion looks so much like Kairi?_

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but Saiyoku decided instantly what to do. She simply turned around and stepped right back into another Dark portal muttering, "I think he can figure it out on his own."

--

"Well, the answer you come up with can't just be right for you. It has to be one that works best for everybody, you and your friends and everyone else." Riku turned around and opened another portal, leaving Xion behind.

She continued to look down at the ground, "I'll try," She sighed and looked up toward the shacks and the growth behind it, "Thank you, Riku."

He opened another portal into DiZ's computer room and saw Saiyoku sitting there, very unhappy.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She said solemnly. She got up and went out the door to the Library, leaving Riku in a confused state. He turned to DiZ, "Do you know what's wrong with her."

"Hm, I sent her to tell you something about Xion, but she came back saying you were busy. I take it she doesn't like Xion very much, what do you think?"

"Oh—hm…" Riku's lips curled into a small smile, "I see. Anything else you need to be taken care of for today?"

"No," DiZ turned in his chair to face Riku, "But come back tomorrow to see what needs to be done next."

"Right," Riku reached the door but stopped, "Oh, what was it Saiyoku was going to tell me?"

"That Xion isn't exactly working in the Organization's interest any more. She has her own plans now. What are Xion's ideas now?"

"She doesn't know what to do right now. But, I offered her time to think about giving back Sora's memories to him. She said that her friends need her and she needs her friends, but she'll take time to think about what's best for everyone."

"I see… alright. Thank you, Riku."

Riku walked out the door and up the stairs, leaving the Library and entering the Foyer. Saiyoku was already walking out the door, her Organization coat narrowly sliding through. It slammed shut, the sound echoing through the open room. Riku was obviously in a lot of trouble.

He ran after her, sliding through the door and slamming it shut behind him, "Saiyoku!" He called after her, who was already stalking through the gate.

"What?" She asked him, not even stopping or turning around. He caught up and grabbed her arm to make her stop. She didn't even look at him, but pulled against him, trying to make him let go.

"Don't tell me you're still jealous."

"I'm NOT jealous. Now let go." She struggled, yanking her arm around in his tight grip.

"You are too, now why?"

"I told you I'm NOT jealous so let me go and leave me alone."

"Don't try and deny it, Saiyoku. You and I both know it so stop making such a fuss to run off and sulk when I could easily let you go after you tell me why."

She stopped dead and scowled, her eyes shooting daggers at him. If anyone had said 'a look that could kill'… yep, that was it.

"I don't know. I honestly don't." She sighed and then glared at him again, "Well, are you going to let me go?"

"I don't believe you."

"I told you why. You never said anything about you believing me, so let me go."

He frowned, "I'm the one who's got a grip on you so I make the decision of letting you go or not."

"I really don't know why!"

His grip on her arm tightened, "Ow, ow, don't do that! Alright, alright. I guess I'm just jealous 'cause she looks a lot like Kairi… and because I really don't like her anyway. She's not fit to fight, and when she does, she fights not because she wants to, but because she has to. She doesn't have the spirit, but she thinks that she wants to fight. I hate it when girls do that. If she doesn't really have the spirit or the strength to do it, she shouldn't even try.

"Kairi's the same way. She acts as if she wants to try to fight, but you and I both know that she would fail at it, and that she shouldn't even bother. It ticks me off more than anything to see that. Some girls just aren't fit to do that. And sometimes… I guess I'm jealous of them."

"And why's that?" He loosened her grip, now satisfied with her answer.

"Because sometimes I wish that instead of being able to fight my own battles… I could just sit on the sidelines and have someone else fight for me. Sometimes it's nice to have that privilege, but usually it's not. It becomes a pain to just watch."

"And I'm sure that's what drives Xion to fight as well. But you know… I still think you're lying to me." Riku let go off her arm, but she didn't run off.

"What!? You think I'm lying to you after all that!?"

He shot her a look that said 'shut up and just let me talk', "I believe you on what you're saying… but I don't think that's why you're jealous of Xion, otherwise, you would have had issues like this all the time back on the island when we spent time with Kairi. At least, worse ones that those."

"I—Are you saying I have issues?"

Riku laughed, "No, I'm saying that the jealousy that's driving you now is different. And until you figure out what it is, I just might have to go find Hayner and the ga—"

"No! Please don't! I don't know what the heck they'll say after that stupid Heartless and Nobody invasion!"

"Then you'd better think of it."

"…" She looked off toward the woods while she thought hard and long about why that jealousy always flared up around Xion. She sighed when she came to a conclusion, "You're going to think this is really stupid…"

"Why?"

She sighed again, "As far as I know… I think I'm jealous because… well, I'm not sure I like there being yet ANOTHER girl."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first there's Kairi, and then there's Naminè, but of course together they're practically one person, and then there's Xion."

"Are you… jealous that I'm spending time with other girls?" Riku smiled when Saiyoku blushed, avoiding looking at him. He laughed, but Saiyoku managed to regain her composure and glare at him, giving him a nice roundabout kick to his shoulder.

"AGH!" He shouted when her foot made contact.

"You ask me something like that, I give you the answer, and then you just laugh about something like that? Jeez…" She walked away, rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders.

"You didn't have to kick me!"

"Do you want me to give you a kick to the head?"

"No."

"Then I suggest you shut up for a while."


	10. Roxas' End

Saiyoku stepped through the Dark portal, her face grim with bad news, "Xion is dead."

Both Riku and DiZ immediately looked at her, "What?"

"Roxas killed her. She was trying to absorb him and complete herself, but he resisted and they fought. He killed her in the process."

DiZ shook his head, "The memories will return to Sora, but our memories of Xion will fade. She was never really there, so it won't matter."

"How could you just say that? As if nothing happened? She was how we could've easily captured Roxas and returned him to Sora. Now we have to rethink our strategy." Saiyoku said angrily, not really caring about Xion.

"Then we will rethink our strategy. We need to closely monitor Roxas now, somehow get him away from the Organization." DiZ said, turning back to his computer.

"Right." Riku said quietly.

"That's not the problem. Roxas has already strayed from the Organization. Now the only thing left is to get him to come here and rejoin with Sora, but how would you like to disappear into someone else? I sure wouldn't, so it's not going to be easy getting him to come with us. Besides, why would he come with us? We're the imposters remember?"

"He already left?" Riku and DiZ both asked confused.

"Huh? I thought I told you this already." Saiyoku scratched her head, trying to remember.

"I think you failed to mention that tiny little detail." DiZ muttered, and he pulled up Sora's data again on his computer. He suddenly got up and left the room, headed for the Pod Room. Saiyoku and Riku caught each others eyes. She shrugged and ran after DiZ, Riku following behind.

DiZ walked into the room, where Naminè was looking up into the Pod.

"Sora…" She whispered, and DiZ joined her.

"It appears we've come to a standstill."

"Yes."

"This has gone on long enough. Riku, Saiyoku…" DiZ turned around and looked at the two friends standing there, a solemn look on his face, "I think you two know what needs to be done."

"Right." They both said in unison, and Riku left the room with her following behind him. He paused in the hallway and opened up another portal, stepping through.

"Where are you going?"

He looked behind him, "I need to talk to a good friend."

"Mickey?"

"Good guess."

"It wasn't a guess. Sora's asleep, I'm right here, Kairi's on the island and I know you don't want to talk to her while Sora's asleep, so Mickey's the only one left."

"Clever."

"Exactly. Well, come back soon so we can go and take care of Roxas."

"Of course."

--

Riku came back shortly, having a little talk with Mickey about Roxas and Sora's condition. Saiyoku was waiting against the metal wall again, her face showing signs of annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

"DiZ said he changed his mind. He said he wants YOU to go and not me. He told me that since Roxas is a Keyblade bearer, then he will probably kick my butt easily. But, he said that since you've had more experience than me at fighting, then you should go alone. But you've already faced him once and lost! I can't believe this!"

"Hmph. It's up to DiZ. He knows what's best."

"Rrgh, I hate this!" She stood up and kicked the wall hard before sitting down and acting all cross again.

"Calm down. It's not that big a deal."

"Yes it is. You get to do everything while I just sit here and wait. It's always the same! You got to do everything last year too! I just sat inside your head and watched! Then, I was stuck with Mickey just walking in a never-ending field until the stupid card showed up and still, we got to do barely anything! I'm always left out…" She muttered to herself, her anger rising.

Riku just shook his head and looked at the computer, where DiZ's chair was left vacant. He looked at Saiyoku again and grimaced, "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do." He disappeared again, leaving Saiyoku steaming.

The World That Never Was's city was soaked in rain, the stormy clouds high above the skyscrapers. The rain pounded heavily on Riku's shoulders as he reappeared on top of what was known as Memory's Skyscraper. Roxas was just below him, fighting off a bunch of Neoshadows that just seemed to keep growing from the ground. He was not holding his Kingdom Key anymore, but instead in his hands were Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

Roxas looked up, his hood over his head as he saw Riku peering over the edge of the building. He jumped up onto one of the spikes sticking out of the building on the overhang, swiftly landing onto the building's side and running up it. He tossed Oblivion to Riku, who jumped over the edge and took hold of it. Memories of Xion flooded Riku's head when he held the dark Keyblade, and the two enemies both hesitated as they passed each other, one running up the building, and the other falling down it.

Roxas flipped up onto the roof of the skyscraper, looking over the edge. Riku landed on his feet amidst the Neoshadows, the memories fizzing out and disappearing one by one until he could no longer remember who Xion was. The Neoshadows grew anxious and attacked, leaping into the air, their claws at the ready. Riku simply sliced through them with his Keyblade, while Roxas jumped down and joined the fight again. The enemies destroyed what remained of the Heartless easily before turning on each other.

Riku made the first move, wanting to get this over with. He spun around Roxas and aimed for his neck, but his foe quickly dodged and pounded him to the ground with an aerial assault. Roxas was pushed back when Riku flipped around and got him from underneath, thrusting upward into Roxas' stomach. He went flying back high into the air, performing a few flips to regain his balance before falling to the ground on his knees. He tightened his grip on his Keyblade and charged at Riku, jumping up and over him as he struck him multiple times on his back, sending Riku to the ground. He turned over, Oblivion on the ground next to him.

"Why!? Why do you have the Keyblade?"

Roxas sliced the air with Oathkeeper and yelled at him, "Shut up!" He swung it at Riku, who grabbed Oblivion just in time to hit Oathkeeper at the same time, knocking Roxas back and throwing him unconscious. Riku joined him at his side and pinned Oblivion into the ground beside Roxas' shoulder. His hood had fallen so Riku could now see his face.

Roxas surprised Riku when he woke up, grabbing Oblivion out of the ground and swung at him, narrowly missing him as he jumped back out of his Keyblade's wake. He charged at Riku, his face full of contempt. Riku threw a blast of Dark Firaga at him from his palm, but Roxas ran right through it, dousing the fire with a slash of his Keyblade. Riku made all efforts to dodge the runaway, who just kept coming at him with all he had.

"Why don't you quit?" Roxas yelled at him, the anger boiling inside him.

Riku smiled, "Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that." He waited for Roxas' answer.

"Huh? Get real. Look which one of us is winning." He smirked, but his expression showed fear and confusion, not just sure why he said that.

"So it's true. You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ and Saiyoku were right after all."

Roxas' anger returned, "What are you talking about? I am me. Nobody else!" He summoned Oathkeeper in his left hand, Oblivion in his right. He charged at Riku again, jumping up short and spinning around, catching Riku on his side. He collapsed to the ground in pain while a strangely familiar voice called out to him in his mind, "Riku please! You have to stop him!"

"How many times do I have to beat you?"

"All right. You've left me with no other choice."

"What?"

"I have to release the power in my heart—the Dark power that I've been holding back," Riku stood up and pulled off his blindfold, the bind that held Ansem back, "Even… if it changes me forever. Rragh!" He yelled summoning all his Dark strength as Dark beams of energy surrounded him, changing him to the form of his nightmares. When the energy faded away, all that was left was Riku who no longer looked like himself. Instead, Ansem hovered there, the Dark bound Heartless that was his servant lingered behind him.

One moment he was there, the next, he was staring Roxas directly in the face. The Heartless behind him reached out and grabbed Roxas, squeezing the life out of him until he dropped his Keyblades and collapsed.

"I have accepted it." Riku said to himself, sounding exactly like Ansem. He commanded the Heartless to let go, and Roxas dropped to the ground. The Heartless disappeared and Riku slowly touched the ground, feeling himself fully change to this new form. DiZ arrived shortly afterward, and Riku quickly pulled up his hood so DiZ could no longer see what he had become. He did not dare to look at him, but kept his back to him.

"DiZ… he could feel Sora."

"Oh, he told you how he 'felt,' did he? Ridiculous. A Nobody cannot feel anything."

"If he had met Sora, things might have been different."

DiZ picked up Roxas like a doll underneath his arm and walked through the portal, Riku following him. They re-entered the Computer Room, Saiyoku waiting in her usual spot. She looked up and smiled.

"Hey there! 'Bout time you got back. Where's Roxas?" She looked at DiZ, "Oh, never mind." DiZ put Roxas on a machine that had a beam just above him and left the room for a moment, muttering something about talking to Naminè. Riku motioned for the portal to close and leaned against the wall just behind it. Saiyoku stood up, a concerned look on her face.

"What's with the hood? You never wear it unless we're on a recon mission. C'mon, take it off already." She reached for it to slide it off his head. _This is just like my nightmare! _Riku thought, instantly afraid of what she would say. He backed away and tried to avoid her and get out of the room, but she blocked him from leaving, a scowl on her face.

"What's the matter? Are you hiding something from me?" She tried to see past the shadow of the hood. He backed up again, refusing to let her see. _She can't see… I won't let her. I can't let my nightmare become reality._

Saiyoku grabbed his arm tight and she pushed the hood away from his face, "Huh? Ri-Riku… what happened? What did Ansem do to you?"

"Nothing. I-I…"

"Oh, are you just not wearing your blindfold again?"

"No… Saiyoku, this is what I'm going to look like now. I…"

"What did you do, Riku?" Her face clenched in confusion, "Was Roxas really that hard that you had to use Ansem's power?"

Riku looked away, ashamed. He pulled the hood up and over his face again to hide himself from the world, "I'm sorry, Saiyoku. But I promise it's still me."

"I know it's still you. What do you think I am, an idiot? You really did all you could to help Sora, huh? I can't really say I'd do the same. You're a better friend than I am… that's for sure."

"You… you don't care that I look like this?"

"Hm? No, why would I?"

"N-nothing… it's just… I guess Ansem's gotten to me lately and I was—"

"Doubting whether or not I'd believe you? Man, ever since you joined the Darkness you've acted like a total moron." She flicked him in the forehead.

"Ow."

"You deserved it."

DiZ walked back into the room and took a seat at his computer.

"Saiyoku, Riku, there is still much to be done. We are going to have to extract Sora's memories from Roxas a little bit at a time. During that time, the Organization will realize we have taken their Keyblade bearer and will come after him. Both of your jobs will be to keep them away from Roxas. When I send him into the computer, I will try to erase his memory of anything but his new self."

"So, it'll be like he was never part of the Organization?"

"Correct."

Saiyoku sighed and shook her head, "Even after all that, we still have a way to go."

"That's always how it is."

"I know."

Riku stood next to DiZ as he set Roxas set up on the machine. Riku looked hesitantly at him, "Will it work?"

"If we can maintain the simulated town until Naminè finishes chaining together Sora's memories."

"What will happen to Roxas?"

"He holds half of Sora's power within him. In the end, he'll have to give it back. Until then, he'll need another personality to throw off his pursuers. Which is what I just explained."

"Poor thing."

"It's the fate of a Nobody." DiZ pressed a few buttons and Roxas disappeared into data and was placed inside the simulated Twilight Town. Riku and Saiyoku looked at each other before opening a portal.

"We'll come back tomorrow DiZ."

He nodded, "Good."

They left without another word, Saiyoku was unusually quiet. Riku grabbed her arm in the middle of Betwixt and Between.

"What's the matter?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

She opened another portal and was about to step through when Riku held her arm tighter to keep her from going anywhere.

"What?"

"It's just…"

**To be continued in Destined Shadows…**


	11. EXTRA: Saiyoku's Past

**Sleeping Light EXTRA! A little look at Saiyoku's past.**

The little five year old girl sat on the beach alone, a group of boys were arguing with a girl behind her. She'd never talked to them, and they'd never talked to her before. Every group of friends just seemed to keep to themselves. No one really ever wanted to branch out.

"I wanna play too!" The girl complained, "I wanna be a princess!"

"We can't let you play Selphie. It'd be uneven." A boy with orange hair and a blue bandana across his forehead told her.

"Wakka, that's so mean! It doesn't matter if it'd be uneven! I'm not gonna fight anyway." Selphie moaned again.

"No." All four of the guys said in unison.

"Go play somewhere else." A little boy with blonde hair and a long red stick in his hand said, pointing to the tree houses, "Like up there."

"I don't want to, Tidus."

"Well we can't have you play when it'd be unfair. Why don't you go to one of the other islands where the other girls are playing?" A boy with long silver hair offered, but Selphie stomped her foot.

"That's unfair too, Riku. Besides, I like hanging out with you guys."

"Hm… hey Riku, if we asked that girl over there, then it'd be even and Selphie could play." A boy with spiky brown hair pointed to Saiyoku, who sat motionless on the shore watching the waves.

"Who? Her, Sora?" Riku glanced at her before throwing Sora a skeptical look.

"Huh?" The other two boys and girl said in unison. They all looked at Saiyoku, and she could feel their eyes boring into the back of her head.

"Yeah." Sora nodded, enthusiastic about letting her join. Riku shook his head.

"But why not?" Sora asked. His friend couldn't give an answer. Sora ran out of the group and to Saiyoku's side before they could protest.

"Hey, do you wanna come play with us? We need another person to make it even." Sora offered his hand to her, who just looked solemnly up at him, slightly in disbelief. Sora waited patiently for an answer, but his friends had other ideas.

"C'mon Sora! She obviously doesn't want to play so just leave her alone."

Saiyoku glanced hesitantly behind her, staring at the cold look Riku was giving her. Sora noticed, and stuck his tongue out at Riku before getting Saiyoku's attention again, "Hey, don't let him bother you. Riku's not so scary once you get to know him, I promise. C'mon, it'll be fun if you play with us."

"He's still giving me that look." Saiyoku mumbled, barely audible.

"He'll stop once we all get to know each other."

"…" Saiyoku stayed silent for a time before taking Sora's hand, "I'm Saiyoku."

"I'm Sora. C'mon, let's introduce you to everyone else." He pulled her along excitedly.

"Yay! You're playing! See? Now it's even, Wakka, so I can play now!" Selphie shouted in happiness.

The group all looked at the newcomer, who instantly regretted her decision when seeing all the hesitant faces looking at her.

"Guys, this is Saiyoku. Saiyoku, this is Wakka, Tidus, Riku, and Selphie." He pointed to each person as he introduced them.

"Hey there. Glad that you could help us finish our argument." Wakka said, twirling his Blitzball on his fingers.

"What's up?" Tidus asked, smiling.

Riku said nothing, but Selphie welcomed her warmly, "Hi!"

"What are you guys playing?" She asked quietly, and Sora picked up his wooden sword from the beach.

"We're going to play Pirates! It'll be a lot of fun! Of course, Selphie wants to be a princess, but I don't know how that's gonna work."

"It's easy! I'll be the princess of the pirates I'm with." Selphie said proudly.

"Do you wanna be a princess to, Saiyoku?" Wakka asked, but Saiyoku just shook her head in earnest.

"I wanna be a pirate. Not a helpless princess."

"Is that all right with you guys?" Sora asked the rest of them, and they all shrugged their shoulders. "All right then!"

"We'll take this side of the island while you guys take that side of the island." Riku said, and he and Tidus took off toward one of the tree houses. Wakka and Selphie ran through the hole in the rock wall to get to the North beach.

"Whose team am I on?" Saiyoku asked Sora, who was just about to join them.

"Oh, you're with Riku and Tidus. Go on up and join them." He took off after his two friends, leaving Saiyoku to face the two boys up in the tree house. She climbed up the ladder and found them huddled around a map of the island with a huge red 'x' on one part of the North beach. They had wooden swords with them, but there wasn't one for Saiyoku.

"Where's mine?"

Riku looked at her coldly, "We didn't have enough, sorry. Guess you should've chosen to be 'helpless princess' like girls should be."

She glared at him, "What's your problem?"

He stood up, slightly taller than she was, and definitely more intimidating, "I don't have a problem. But I don't like the fact that you're here."

"Why not?"

"Because we were perfectly fine without you."

"Why do you have such a problem with letting me in?"

"Because we were perfectly fine with each other and we didn't need any more friends but then Sora just had to go ask you to join us."

"If you had such a problem with it, then why didn't you say something else to S-Sora when you had the chance?"

"I don't need you to tell me what I should've done!"

"Then leave me alone! I'm perfectly fine with going back out there and being by myself if I don't have to deal with annoying people like you!"

"Guys, please stop fighting!" Tidus stood in between them and pushed them to opposite ends of the tree house, "Cut it out! We're just playing a game together. If you want to go and be alone, then you can do so afterward, but for now, we're all playing."

Riku and Saiyoku stared each other down before looking away, both fuming. Tidus handed Saiyoku his wooden sword and pulled out his long red stick from earlier.

"Here. I've still got this one. That way, we've all got some sort of weapon. Now here are the rules, Saiyoku. We have to go here and get the treasure… well in this one, our job is to go to the same place and kidnap the princess. But their objective is to get OUR treasure."

"Which is…?"

"The Paopu tree."

"Oh, okay. So, who attacks first?"

"We don't know. If there were more of us, then we would have a chance to make smaller squads and attack and defend, but usually it ends up that both of us attack each other at the same time and whoever claims their treasure first wins."

"Well, we have a moving person, and they have a tree… so doesn't that mean that they have the upper hand?"

"We can take them. Easy." Tidus said, throwing a fist pump into the air. Saiyoku laughed at his childish actions.

"So, we ready to go?" Riku asked, still not looking at Saiyoku.

"Yeah, I think so. Let's go!" Tidus bolted out of the tree house and jumped down, not even bothering to use the ladder. Riku shrugged past her and jumped down after him. Saiyoku followed, easily keeping up. They reached the tunnel into the other side of the island, when Sora and Wakka jumped up into it as well.

It was three against two. Sora ran up and pushed against Riku, trying to knock him back out of the tunnel to make room, while Tidus did the same with Wakka. They pushed against each other, Tidus yelling, "Go, Saiyoku! Get our treasure!"

Saiyoku nodded, dodging in between the two groups of guys. She jumped down and looked around, standing by the Star Tree. Selphie was up in the tower that held the zip line, an easy target for Saiyoku. She ran down and around the ridges of sand, rock, and tropical plants and climbed up the ladder. Selphie grabbed the zip line and down she went, but Saiyoku grabbed her by the shirt before she could take off completely.

"Aw! Let go, let go!"

"No! Not until we win!" Saiyoku pulled Selphie off the zip line and pulled her hands behind her back, keeping her hostage.

"Tidus, Riku! I got her!" She yelled, and the four boys came running out of the tunnel. Sora and Wakka hung their heads; Tidus jumped up and yelled, "Yay!" while Riku smiled smugly.

Saiyoku let Selphie go, jumping onto the zip line and landing in front of the guys. She was laughing, for one of the first times in a long time.

--

**Riku finally accepted Saiyoku into their group after several months of complaining. Now, the three friends, Sora, Riku, and Saiyoku, were inseparable. Until the same day as the meteor shower a year later… when Kairi appeared. This next day was the last day that Saiyoku had the two boys all to herself, and it would never be the same again…**

"Riku, will you help me?"

"With what?"

"I want to draw in the Secret Place."

He looked at her funny, "You don't need my help to draw in the Secret Place. You just pick up a piece of chalk and draw."

"Yeah, but I want to draw on the ceiling and I can't reach."

"Draw on the ceiling? Why would you want to draw on the ceiling?"

"'Cause no one else would touch it."

"That's a silly reason." He dropped the stick he had been using to draw figures in the sand and looked at her very seriously.

"Is not! Please Riku?" She pouted.

"No."

"Well why not?" Saiyoku stomped her foot in frustration as Riku turned away from her and folded his arms.

"Because I'm busy."

"You're just being selfish! You're so mean, Riku!" She stomped off toward the ocean, Riku watching her.

"Fine!" He groaned and walked toward the Secret Place, "I hate it when you get your way."

"Yay! Thank you Riku!" She ran off after him and dodged underneath the undergrowth into the cave. She grabbed a nice big rock and pointed to where she wanted to draw.

"Alright, get on my shoulders." He knelt down as she clambered on. She rose higher and higher until she was able to reach the ceiling easily. He carried her around until she was satisfied.

"I'll put your name up here too, since you helped me reach!" She said cheerily, hoping this would make up for him helping her. She wrote in shaky writing, SAIYOKU AND RIKU WUR HERE.

"Okay, Riku, you can put me down now."

He grunted and set her down gently, rubbing his shoulders with a grimace.

"You didn't say that you wanted me to take a break. I would have been happy to." She told him, noticing how tired he was. After all, they were only six.

"It's no big deal. C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Alrighty!"

**Kairi arrived the next day. Saiyoku's world went upside down. Now her two best friends welcomed someone new, and she couldn't help but feel the same animosity for the girl as Riku had towards her. But… there was something else… jealousy? Jealousy for the stranger that would last for the next ten years of her life…**


End file.
